Phantom Thief Decimo
by Kyogre
Summary: Phantom Thief Tsuna is hired to steal the Vongola Rings. No one expects the Sky Ring to mark him as a candidate for Decimo. No one is happy about it either. AU Varia arc, gen.
1. Recruitment

~.~.~

**Phantom Thief Decimo**

_Summary: Phantom Thief Tsuna is hired to steal the Vongola Rings. No one expects the Sky Ring to mark him as a candidate for Decimo. Now Tsuna is on the run from the Varia, who object to his appointment, half the criminal underworld, who want to see Vongola fall, and also his own allies, who support his new position entirely too much._

~.~.~

"Tonight, I will come for the Chief Inspector's secrets."

A simple white card, bearing this message, was found at the police headquarters that morning. The Chief Inspector had paled and broken out in cold sweat. There was no signature, but the source of the message was clear to everyone.

"It's the Phantom Thief," the Chief's subordinates whispered to each other.

"He's coming for the Chief's secrets? What does that mean?"

"Maybe those rumors about the Chief are true. Maybe he really is dealing under the table..."

Anger quickly overtook the Chief Inspector's fear, and he spun around to bark orders to the officers. "It's just drivel!" he yelled. "This pathetic little thief is after confidential police information! He'll sell it to mafia!"

To the man's frustration, his subordinates quieted, but didn't seem to believe him. The Phantom Thief was a criminal, and the police held little love for him, but even they couldn't help but feel that wasn't what his note meant. "The Chief Inspector's secrets," the Phantom Thief said, not "police secrets."

And even to them, the Phantom Thief was too eccentric and flamboyant, too… romantic a figure. He terrorized art dealers and jewelry boutiques across the country, in between issuing more ridiculous boasts, but something like information dealing seemed entirely too pedestrian and common for the lunatic who had once declared he would "steal back the night sky" and did so by causing a massive blackout.

(Admittedly, the unobstructed starry sky was a beautiful view, though no one was sure what exactly had prompted that particular spectacle.)

"This is our chance! If we catch the Phantom Thief, our force will be renowned throughout Italy!" the Chief Inspector blustered. "Call in everyone! We'll set a trap he can't hope to escape!"

Of course, similar claims had been made every time the Phantom Thief had sent one of his "business cards." Needless to say, there had been no success so far.

~.~.~

**Chapter 1: Recruitment ~ The Phantom Thief in Italy**

~.~.~

That night, the police headquarters were thrown into chaos as the power cut off suddenly. At first, the officers held their posts, but before long tensions mounted, the darkened hallways growing stifling. Sweat ran heavily down their backs, and their eyes darted around frantically, looking for any sign of movement.

Then, reports began to come in - a glimpse of something, first at one end of the building, then at another. Phantoms - the famous thief was living up to his name.

The Chief Inspector paced his office restlessly, cursing as he bumped into the corner of his desk in the darkness. The officers lining the hallway leading up to the room tensed, their grip on their weapons tightening.

Suddenly, a much younger policeman rushed around the corner, stumbling a little as he tried to both catch himself from the fast turn and keep his cap from flying off.

"Chief!" he exclaimed, panting. "There's… there's been a break in at the evidence locker!"

"What?!" the Chief burst out, the other officers flinching. His eyes darted around frantically as his thoughts raced. "No… is he after the Esca case evidence? But I was sure I..." The idea made him pale and break out in cold sweat. "Quickly! Find him! Catch him before he gets away!"

"But, Chief…" one of the officers tried to protest.

"Go!" the Chief barked.

He didn't bother watching them scramble away. Instead, the Chief Inspector rushed back into his office, circling around his desk to the portrait of himself that hung on the back wall. Pushing it aside, he revealed a hidden safe. He cursed again as his sweaty hands slipped over the safe's rotary lock.

Behind him, the young officer who had brought the message straightened, suddenly no longer quite so winded, and reached up to adjust his cap, pulling it firmly down to shadow his face.

"A hidden safe behind a painting? Really? That's so cliche," he complained, making the Chief jump in surprise.

"What are you still doing here?! Get to work! Catch the Phantom Thief!" the Chief yelled, even as he tried to block the contents of the safe from the young man.

"It's bad enough you keep your secret criminal dealings in your office, but you couldn't even hide them better than that?" the young man continued. He sighed, musing, "Maybe I didn't need to get involved after all. You would've gotten caught before long anyway…"

With a snarl, the Chief Inspector reached for his gun, but before he could even draw it, the young man dashed forward, vaulting over the desk. A swift strike to the side of the man's neck send the Chief Inspector straight into unconsciousness.

Straightening, the young man pulled out a white domino mask and affixed it on his face.

"Alright, time to wrap this up," the Phantom Thief declared. He took a step toward the safe, nudging the Chief's body aside, only to pause as a statuette on a nearby shelf caught his eye. It was ugly and in terrible taste, but it also looked to be solid gold. Without thinking about it, he snagged the ugly thing. Even the Phantom Thief needed to pay the bills, after all.

Reaching into the safe, he pulled out the folders and record book inside. As he flipped open the book to glance over the information - all clearly marking the Chief Inspector's dealings with various criminal groups - a plain envelope fluttered out.

The Phantom Thief reached out to snatch it out of the air, only to miss and almost drop the folders he was holding. With a yelp, he scrambled to keep hold of everything in his hands, as the envelope innocently settled on the cheap, gaudy carpet.

"...Glad no one saw that," he sighed. "How embarrassing…"

Sighing, the thief bent to pick it up. He paused, reading the elegant script across the front.

"No way…" he murmured in shock, his eyes darting to the safe, then to Chief's prone body. But after a moment, he shook his head and tucked the envelope away. He'd deal with it later.

~.~.~

"Did you find him?" one of the policemen called out as a patrol group met up just outside the building, the beams of their flashlights swinging wildly.

"No, there's no sign of him."

"Hey! They've checked the evidence room! It looks like nothing's missing!"

"So it was a decoy?"

The officers scowled, exchanging a dark look. The Phantom Thief had fooled them yet again. How many years had it been since he started making a mockery of Italy's police forces?

As if summoned by their thoughts, a figure appeared atop the police headquarters' roof. A ripple passed through the crowd below, their flashlights darting up to focus on the target of their search.

The Phantom Thief wore the same ridiculous outfit he favored for all his public heists - a tuxedo, top hat, cloak and mask that appeared to be straight out of a fancy costume party. His cloak billowed as he gestured dramatically with one arm, the other holding aloft the files he had stolen.

"Honorable policemen and women!" he declared. "As promised, I have taken the Chief Inspector's secrets! And now, I present them for all to see!"

Reaching into the first folder, he pulled out the papers inside and threw them into the air. The sheets fluttered down into the hands of the assembled police force, catching and reflecting the beams of the flashlights directed up at the Phantom Thief.

One of the policemen tore his gaze away from the thief's figure to study the paper he had caught. "This is… the missing autopsy report?" he muttered, his voice slowly rising in indignation. "This couldn't won us the case!"

The same sort of comments were echoed around him as his coworkers made their own discoveries about the contents of the Chief Inspector's secrets. More sheets fluttered down on them as the Phantom Thief emptied another folder and started to tear pages out of the record book.

The crowd began to grow agitated, shifting angrily as the full extent of their boss's corruption came to light. But fortunately, before it could turn into a lynch mob, one of the senior officers stepped forward.

"Gather everything!" he yelled. "Pick up all the sheets! Make sure you don't miss even one! These claims will need to be investigated!"

"That's right! We can't just take the word of a criminal!" another backed him up.

"We can't just ignore it!" a younger policeman yelled back.

"And we won't!" their de facto leader said firmly. "That's why we need all the evidence. And someone catch that thief! He's a witness now!"

Of course, in the commotion, the Phantom Thief had long since slipped away.

~.~.~

Far from the police headquarters, the Phantom Thief slipped into the loft room of a supposedly abandoned building -though the power was certainly still on. This time, he wasn't breaking and entering. The window was invitingly open, and once inside, he sighed in relief.

His shucked off his costume piece by piece, letting it fall haphazardly - the hat flying to catch on a (stolen) trophy, the cloak pooling on the floor, the tuxedo draped crookedly over the back of a battered chair.

As the mask was finally cast aside, standing in the loft was no longer the Phantom Thief, but only Sawada Tsunayoshi, who stretched and sighed again.

It had been a nice, easy job, and it left Tsuna with a certain feeling of satisfaction. Not only was the Chief Inspector corrupt, and thus totally deserving of what was coming to him, but he had also been causing trouble for some of Tsuna's contacts, trying to force them into some kind of ridiculous racketeering scheme. Tsuna could count on some pretty nice favors as thanks for getting rid of the man.

And he's even scored a little something extra too. His eyes trailed to the ugly, but potentially expensive statuette he had snagged from the Chief's office, but his satisfied expression darkened as he caught a glimpse of the mysterious envelope he had also brought back with him.

Tsuna shook his head. "Shower first," he decided. "Urgh, I'm all sweaty from that stupid uniform…"

Stalling? Maybe. But he was a thief, not a hitman. Running away was how he dealt with problems.

Steam billowed out of the bathroom as Tsuna finished his shower. Toweling his hair dry, he plopped down on the rickety mattress that served as his bed. His eyes caught on the ugly statue and the envelope once more, but instead Tsuna reached for his phone.

He had a new message.

"Hi, Tsu-kun! It's Mama!" it began.

"Sounds like it's same old, same old in Namimori," Tsuna muttered, scrolling quickly through the text. He started to type out an answer - 'I'm fine, nothing new, nothing exciting,' - before stopping suddenly. "I sound like Dad," Tsuna said, scowling as he snapped the cell phone shut.

Finally out of distractions, he reached for the mysterious envelope. Rolling over onto his back, he held it up to the ceiling and stared at the simple, elegant cursive on the front.

"To the Phantom Thief," it read.

It wasn't from the Chief Inspector, Tsuna knew instinctively. That man didn't have the creativity or foresight for something like this. No, someone else had used the Phantom Thief's announcement of his next target to get a message to him. Someone had been able to get to the Chief Inspector's safe before Tsuna and slipped this envelope inside.

Inside the envelope was a card.

Tsuna sat up abruptly, staring at the crest at the top. Two rifles, a shield, a bullet and a winged clam, embossed in gold. His breath caught.

An orange flame flickered to life over the crest and flashed across the white card, leaving behind narrow trails of black - a hidden message in invisible ink.

"You are cordially invited…"

Not to a birthday celebration.

Not to a bridal shower.

Not to a wedding.

"...to a meeting with Vongola IX."

"Hiiiiieee!" Tsuna shrieked, instinctively tossing the card away - a rather belated reaction.

It landed innocently on the other end of the bed and, despite Tsuna's mistrustful gaze, did nothing further.

Bearing the Vongola Famiglia's crest, sealed with Sky flames, there could be no doubt of the origin of the invitation, or of its authenticity.

"Vongola? Why? What do they want?" Tsuna muttered to himself, finally gathering the courage to crawl over to peer at the invitation again. The lovely cursive script had not changed, and no matter how much Tsuna prayed that his knowledge of Italian had failed him, the words did not rearrange themselves into something more pleasing, or more logical.

"Are… Are they on to me?" he wondered. But then why go through the trouble of an invitation like this? And why address it to the Phantom Thief, not Sawada Tsunayoshi?

Tsuna turned away, glancing around the loft nervously. "I'm gonna have to move," he muttered to himself. "Better not go to any of my usual places. I should low lay for a while…"

He didn't want to get involved with the Vongola. In fact, that was the last thing he wanted. But… Tsuna could swear he felt the sheer presence of that invitation at his back, making him so tense he was practically shaking.

'You are cordially invited...'

"It's probably a trap!" he burst out, frustrated - mostly with himself.

Still, peeking over his shoulder at the seemingly innocent white and gold card, Tsuna could feel himself caving. It was not, he assured himself, because he couldn't remember the last time he was actually invited to anything or because he felt kind of flattered, or anything like that…

He really couldn't turn down a request, even against his better judgement.

Tentatively, haltingly, Tsuna reached out to pick up the invitation again. Staring at it, he frowned. That couldn't be it. There had to be something more. Flipping the card over, he ran his fingertips over the unmarked back. That couldn't all of it. Who sent an invitation without a date or time or anything?

Maybe...

It was easy to send a subtle pulse of Flame through the card, the same way of the Ninth's own Sky Flames had previously appeared on the invitation.

As Tsuna had half-expected, a new message was revealed on the back - a time and location - now that his desire to meet had been confirmed. Tsuna stared at the coordinates with a growing sense of doom. This was it, no backing out now.

Without warning, the invitation caught fire.

With a startled yelp, Tsuna flung it away and promptly tumbled off his bed, flailing. The white card was quickly swallowed up and disintegrated, leaving only a dusting of ashes to fall on the loft floor.

"I hate the mafia…" Tsuna grumbled, his face smooshed against the floorboards.

~.~.~

The chosen meeting place was the garden of a small Vongola-owned estate out in the country, where the Ninth was supposedly taking a well-deserved short rest from his duties (conveniently sans his Guardians).

Well, the estate was small by Vongola standards. To normal people, it was a mansion, with a front yard so massive you couldn't see the main house from the front gates.

Still, Tsuna didn't have much trouble slipping past the guards and into the private inner garden. It was almost too easy, and Tsuna felt paranoia creeping up his spine as he ghosted through the hedge maze and slipped around a classical marble statue of a half-clothed goddess.

Up ahead, he could see a solitary figure resting in a comfortable chair under a vine-covered arbor. Though they kept out of sight, Tsuna knew bodyguards waited nearby, within shouting distance.

Tsuna took a deep breath and centered himself. This was a meeting for the Phantom Thief, so he would act like the Phantom Thief - a carefree, devil-may-care rogue, who did whatever he pleased, whenever he felt like it. The Phantom Thief wouldn't feel paranoid by too little security; he'd be amused, and maybe playfully insulted.

'You didn't need to make it easy for me,' he would say. 'I like a challenge. I wouldn't mind giving you a demonstration of my skills.'

Being the Phantom Thief was easy and fun, in a way. It was his stage persona, and he liked being able to just say and do anything, without worrying about the consequences, for just a little while.

Breathing out slowly, he let the mask of the Phantom Thief slip over his face.

Tsuna stepped under the arbor, his mouth already opening to spout some cheesy, cocky line, but whatever he planned to say died away as the old man in the chair turned to face him and smiled.

"Welcome," the Ninth Vongola boss, Timoteo, said kindly. "Thank you for coming, Phantom Thief."

He looked like someone's grandfather. His expression was grandfatherly too, and Tsuna's composure completely slipped as, instead, the good manners his mother had drilled into his head took over.

Without even thinking about it, Tsuna found himself respectfully pulling off his top hat and ducking his head.

"Thank you for having me," he replied demurely.

"What a polite young man," Nono commented pleasantly. "It's so rare to see these days."

That didn't help Tsuna regain his mental balance. He could feel himself flushing under the praise. If anything, he was more used to people complaining about his age - "The Phantom Thief is just a brat!" - or about his choice of "work" outfit - "Of course, only a brat would choose such a ridiculous costume!"

But then, Nono had seen far stranger than a tuxedo, cape and mask in his day. (Furthermore, the wearers of those stranger outfits had a surprisingly large overlap with the most impressive people Timoteo had met. Often, eccentricity and exceptional capability went hand in hand.)

"You're probably wondering why I invited you here," Nono continued, keeping control of the conversation. Tsuna shifted uneasily, since the old man was entirely correct. Nono smiled. "It's quite simple. I want to hire you. You see, there is something I need stolen."

Timoteo had expected the Phantom Thief to be stunned, and he paused obligingly while the young man collected his thoughts. Using those free moments, Tsuna quickly rallied.

"I don't like taking jobs for others," the Phantom Thief said, flipping the top hat in his hands casually. "Orders aren't my thing. I don't want to be tied to any group or family. It's not my style."

Nono smiled again, his mustache twitching. "But you do take jobs sometimes," he noted. "You have in the past."

Tsuna hesitated, feeling off-balance again. The old man was right, but...

"Naturally, you have the right to refuse," Timoteo said, moving on before Tsuna could form a response. "But please hear me out. This request may seem outrageous, but that is why I need someone of your talents. I believe I am not exaggerating when I say it may change the course of the underworld society's future."

The old man paused, and Tsuna found himself unconsciously leaning in, his top hat once again clutched tightly in his hands.

"I want you to steal the Vongola Rings," Timoteo said baldly.

There was a moment of stunned silence.

"Hiiieee-"

Dropping his hat, Tsuna clapped his hands over his mouth. His shoulders trembled with the force of his suppressed shriek of surprise.

"Boss! Are you alright?" one of the bodyguards called out, moving closer, and Tsuna quickly dropped to the ground to hide behind Timoteo's chair.

"What an interesting bird," Nono commented calmly, his entirely too amused gaze never leaving Tsuna's shaking figure. "I don't think I've ever heard a call like that before."

After a moment of hesitation, the bodyguards backed away once more, and Tsuna dared to slowly remove his hands from his mouth.

"Have you gone senile?" he hissed. Perhaps he should have waited a bit. "Um, sir," Tsuna amended quickly.

"I don't believe so," Nono said, fortunately not offended. "I have my reasons. I can't go into my Family's internal matters, but I will say this - the Vongola Rings are necessary for the Inheritance Ceremony to take place."

"And you don't want it to?" Tsuna wondered blankly. Staring up at Nono, he settled down to sit in proper seiza-style. Like it or not, he was going to have to at least hear this all the way through.

This was also the point where he started regretting a little that he hadn't kept track of mafia gossip. In fact, Tsuna had staunchly avoided the Vongola family and everything related to it. Despite racking his head, he couldn't even remember who the Ninth's likeliest successor was.

"Of course I do," Nono said, raising his eyebrows in faux surprise. "I am not immortal. Someone will have to take my place, soon. However, I want the ceremony to take place at my discretion. I hardly intend for you to keep the rings," he added. "Rather, I need them out of reach until the time is right."

"So you want me to steal the rings and… keep them for a while," Tsuna summarized. "And I'm guessing someone is going to want them, so they'll be chasing after me the whole time."

"That's exactly right," Nono agreed.

Tsuna shook his head. "This sort of thing is exactly why I don't want to get involved in mafia politics. No matter how I look at it, I can't see this ending well for me."

"You're very skilled," Nono said, his eyes practically twinkling. "I've followed your career with interest. I'm sure you'll make it. Of course, the reward will be more than worth it. Vongola has the power to provide much."

"I-it doesn't matter if you flatter me! And a reward isn't going to do me any good if I'm dead!" Tsuna said, though his voice wavered a little as he began to feel himself caving under Nono's expectant gaze. Why, why was he so bad at turning people down? He definitely should have never come.

"I'm glad to hear that," Nono said, his grandfatherly expression steadily growing more and more pleased. It was amazingly disconcerting to see him act like all of Tsuna's refusals were part of his plan. "I wouldn't be able to entrust this responsibility to someone so easily swayed."

"I haven't agreed to anything!" Tsuna protested.

Timoteo ignored him. "I don't know how aware you are of the situation within Vongola," he said, "but the one considered the most likely candidate is Xanxus, the leader of the Varia."

Tsuna paused in his protests, staring at the Vongola boss in surprise. Even he knew what Varia was - the independent assassination group that operated under Vongola's banner.

"However, neither my Outside Advisor nor I are willing to acknowledge him as the successor," Nono said. He noted with interest the small twitch from his companion at the mention of Vongola's Young Lion, but continued his explanation. "His only option is to take the Vongola Rings. With them, he will be able to hold the Inheritance Ceremony, even without our approval."

"But… if you don't approve, won't that be a problem?" Tsuna wondered. "Can he really just go behind you back like that?"

Nono spread his hands. "There is no provision that forbids such an action. It's meant to for situations when the boss and the Outside Advisor are… incapacitated," he said. The possibility was also left open in case both the boss and the advisor proved unfit to lead any longer, but Timoteo didn't feel the need to mention that. "However, many of my Family would agree with you," he continued wearily. "At the same time, many would also support Xanxus."

"The Vongola Family will be divided and turn on itself," Tsuna realized. "It'll be a civil war."

Nono nodded gravely. "That is what we wish to avoid, above all else. We have a plan… but we need time to put it in place. And that is where you would come in."

Frowning, Tsuna stood up and paced away, though he paused still within reach.

That would be where he came in - steal the rings, lead the Varia on a merry chase for as long as possible to buy time, and then probably pass the rings back to a representative of the Ninth.

That was if he didn't get killed in the meantime. The term "Varia quality" existed for a reason.

Not to mention, he had no desire to get involved in Vongola internal politics, or the mafia in general.

But...

What if he didn't? What if he turned down this job?

"My older son, Enrico, was killed in a feud," Nono spoke up, as if sensing Tsuna's hesitation. His voice didn't shake, but the deep sadness in it was all too clear. "My second boy, Massimo, was drowned. My youngest, Frederico… we only found his bones."

In other words, he had no heir.

Tsuna's heart twinged in sympathy for the old man. It was clear that he had loved his sons, and losing them was a harsh blow. And now, with his family gone, his Family was also in danger of tearing itself apart.

It wasn't just Timoteo's Family. It was also...

Again, as if reading Tsuna's mind, Nono said, "The Vongola Family is the largest and most powerful in the mafia world, and we have many allies. Our history is bloody, but we have also been a source of stability within the mafia. If Vongola collapses in on itself… The underworld society will be awash with blood."

Those were not idle boasts, but rather absolute facts.

Tsuna swallowed heavily.

"Why… why can't you accept the Varia leader as a candidate?" he asked, trying to buy himself time to think.

"Suffice to say, I have my reasons," Nono said. Those reasons appeared to be ones he had no intention of sharing with an outsider, or perhaps with anyone.

"Then what are you planning to do? This is just a way of stalling," Tsuna said. He could feel Nono's quiet satisfaction at his slow, inevitable surrender and acceptance of the job. "You have a plan, right? You're not going to just take him out and deal with succession later, are you?"

To his surprise, Timoteo almost seemed to flinch at the suggestion.

"Of course not," Nono said, quietly and firmly. "Rest assured, we just need time to arrange everything, with the Varia distracted. Preparations are already being made."

Tsuna sighed, finally acknowledging that, truthfully, he had long since caved to the old man's request.

Picking up his top hat, he twirled it absently before setting it over his hair once more. "The Phantom Thief wouldn't be involved in something like this. Having this kind of thing on my record would bring attention I don't want or need," he said. Nono watched him, his gaze piercing. "But… I'll do it. As a private matter, with no link to the Phantom Thief."

"I wonder… how many private jobs like this have you done?" Nono mused lightly. "I'd love to know what your full record looks like." He seemed to grow even more pleased with his choice to recruit Tsuna.

"Just so we're clear," Tsuna said, ignoring the poorly-concealed satisfaction practically radiating from Nono, "I'm only doing this because I'm part of the underworld too, even if I'm not as deep in as the mafia. I don't want to see it engulfed in war."

Nono smiled. "That is the best reason I could ask for," he said. "And as for your price…"

"Let's just say you'll owe me one," Tsuna said. 'After all, I might not even be around to collect,' he thought pessimistically.

~.~.~

**Notes**

Q: "Phantom Thief," really?

A: This is a really lame name. In Japanese, it's "kaitou," more or less a generic term for a character archetype. It's like calling yourself "The Cat Burglar." Very lame. It's because I (and Tsuna) have no ability for naming things, and I didn't want to think of a more specific moniker. Also, how this came about will be explains in chapter 3~

Q: That's not how the Rings/the Inheritance Ceremony works!

A: I'm playing fast and loose with the details. Same for how Flames work. Also, don't assume that all the characters are telling the full, unvarnished truth. Tsuna is the outsider here and being used for a particular purpose. Obviously, he isn't being told everything. Nono is actively leaving things out or distorting facts to portray a picture that would convince Tsuna to help him.

Q: How old is Tsuna?

A: Somewhere in the 17-23 age range. I'm not entirely sure.

I'm still pretty iffy on this story, not sure whether to continue, so please tell me what you think!

~.~.~


	2. Unexpected complications

~.~.~

**Phantom Thief Decimo**

_Previously: Tsuna, in his alter-ego as the Phantom Thief, was hired by the Ninth Vongola boss. His job - to steal the Vongola Rings, and to keep the Varia and their leader Xanxus occupied, while the Ninth prepares his own plans for succession._

~.~.~

Two men looked out over the sunset-orange sky in silence. The high windows of Nono's office at the Vongola Headquarters presented a stunning view of the estate grounds, now starkly lined in shadow. However, neither was able to appreciate the scenery, lost in heavy thought.

"So that's the situation," Reborn mused, pulling his fedora a little lower. "What a mess. I can't believe you let it get this bad."

"It was a mistake on my part," Timoteo agreed gravely. "I never thought I might lose all three of them… and I let myself be paralyzed by grief for too long. I couldn't even stand to think accepting anyone else as my heir in their place… We're moving as fast as we can to rectify that. Iemitsu has already departed."

"You shouldn't have let Xanxus find out he's not your biological son like that either," Reborn said mercilessly. He paused thoughtfully. "You didn't tell the thief that, did you? That Xanxus won't be able to complete the Inheritance Ceremony? The Vongola Sky Ring would reject him."

Nono chuckled, without any real humor. "He's a nice young man, but I am not certain he would be willing to take such a risk for any stakes lower than the full disintegration of the Vongola and the mafia world," he said. "I don't think he would agree to face the Varia's wrath just to temporarily draw fire from some boy he's never met. Admitting to him that we just need time to prepare our candidate without the threat of Xanxus hunting him down would not be very compelling."

"So in the end, he's just a decoy for Xanxus," Reborn said. It was harsh, but logical, from the perspective of the Vongola boss. "So even if they catch him and take the rings, he should at least be able to lead them on a merry chase in the meantime, and even if they get the rings, they'll still fail." His lips quirked in something that wasn't a smile.

In the end, Nono stood to lose very little in this gamble, but could potentially gain just enough time to make his plan work. Sacrificing one freelance no-name thief, against the future of the entire Vongola Family, wasn't a difficult choice.

It was too bad for the thief, but Reborn wasn't the sort to waste sympathy on every poor kid caught up in the mafia's deadly game. Maybe, if he was good enough, he would be able to get away with his life.

"It's not as if I want him to die," Timoteo said, sighing. "He really is a nice young man. That's why I want you to help him."

Reborn didn't twitch or groan, but the look he directed at the Vongola boss was terribly flat.

"Officially, your job will be to retrieve the rings," Nono continued. "But I want you to focus on keeping the Varia from taking them… or killing the Phantom Thief. Just stall for as long as possible. If you can, try not to be too obvious about it."

"So it's another babysitting job," Reborn complained, pulling his fedora down further. "I just got off keeping Dino alive, despite his best efforts, and now you're sending me to mind another brat."

"What can I say? You have a way with children," Nono said dryly.

Reborn snorted, but his expression quickly grew serious again. "If he's as good as you're hoping, he might not get caught at all. Will the Varia even know to go after him?"

"No, I don't think he'll get caught that easily," Nono agreed, smiling as he held up a plain white card. One side held a simple message - "Tonight, I will take the Vongola Rings." There was no signature. "This was left in my desk this morning," Nono explained.

"You need a new head of security," Reborn said, refusing to be impressed. After all, he had made it to Nono's office undetected as well. It wasn't that hard.

"I've made arrangements," Nono continued, pocketing the card, the proof of their deal. "In preparation for choosing a successor, the rings are in CEDEF custody. Naturally, with their leader out of the country, this is the best time for someone to strike… They know to be on the lookout."

In other words, he had warned them. And if the Phantom Thief couldn't get past the CEDEF, he didn't stand a chance against the Varia anyway.

~.~.~

**Chapter 2: Unexpected complications ~ The Ring and the Successor**

~.~.~

The CEDEF headquarters were disguised as an ordinary office building, and up to a certain level, that disguise was actually very thorough and realistic. They even had actual cubicles, Tsuna noted as he scoped the place out.

Still, they went a little too far in places. No real business had the same sheer consistency of plain black suits on every employee, no matter how stringent their dress code. Those suits - which screamed either "mafia" or "secret agent" - made the rare weirdos, who inevitably accumulated in any major mafia group, all the more eye-catching.

After all, any real business also would not have people dressed in everything from period ball gowns to clown costumes to… bondage gear reporting in at all times of the day and night.

Deciding he had learned all he would be able to, Tsuna packed up the lunch he had been eating at the small park across from the CEDEF building and stood up. He stretched, having gotten a little sore, and adjusted his outfit - a sweatshirt from the local university and cargo pants that, together with his slightly worn backpack, made him look like a hapless college kid.

Pushing up his thick glasses, Tsuna chanced one last glance at the CEDEF. He was sure no one had noticed him, but all the same, he felt as if there was something off about all the agents he had seen that day. They were tense, as if anticipating an attack.

"Expecting the Varia, maybe?" Tsuna mused, before shaking his head.

At least that man wasn't there.

~.~.~

A red light blinked on in the central control room of the CEDEF headquarters, immediately drawing the operator's attention.

"Huh? We have a sensor giving abnormal readings," he reported, clicking rapidly at his keyboard. "I'm getting a lot of interference, can't determine the cause…"

The operator trailed off as another red light appeared on his monitor, followed by another, and another, until a wave of red swept across the sensor readout display.

"Sensors are down in the upper east sector!"

"Cameras are down too!"

"It's spreading! Headed toward the inner sectors!"

In another part of the building, Basil paused in the middle of his patrol as the reports filtered through to him through a small earpiece. "They're after the rings," he realized, knowing the same thought was passing through every CEDEF agent's mind.

'I won't fail my master!' he thought, his hand reaching into his pocket to grasp a small pill case.

He swallowed back a pill with practiced ease, and a pale-blue flame flickered to life over his forehead. With all the speed Dying Will Mode could offer, he took off toward the affected area, now racing against the clock in more ways than one.

Reports continued to stream in.

"D8, D5 and E7 blocks are down!" an operator reeled off.

"Anise here! I'm in D6 now, but there's no one here!" an agent called back.

"Caraway here! I've reached E7!" another agent relaid. Under his breath, he muttered, "Urgh, the air's so thick in here…"

"Caraway, repeat that!" Basil ordered. "What's the situation?"

"I can't explain it, but something's not right! This must be the sensor the interference!"

'Is it some new technology or a spell?' Basil wondered. "I'm almost there! Anise, confirm!"

"Anise here, I see him!" came the other agent's voice. "He's just ahead of me! That's a dead end, I'll get him, that- Huh? Where did he go?"

"I think I see him!" Caraway called out at almost the same time, despite being on the opposite end of the affected area. Judging by the cursing that followed, he had also found himself chasing ghosts.

'A Mist Flame user?'

"The sensor blackout has almost reached the vault!" the command center reported. "We've lost sensors on the eastern approach!"

"I'm almost there!" Basil gritted his teeth, trying to force himself to move even faster, despite already having passed his body's normal limits. "Tarragon, Marjoram, what's the status in the vault?"

He was out of breath as he finally skidded to a halt in front of the entrance to the most secure part of the CEDEF building. A momentary breeze stirred his long bangs and sent a cold shiver down his back as it dried the sweat on his forehead and neck.

He could definitely feel something in the air.

"Tarragon, Marjoram, report!" Basil demanded when there was no reply from the comm.

"We've lost visual of inside the vault!" the command center said.

'Don't tell me he's already in the vault?!' he thought. Basil spun toward the massive vault doors, only to hesitate before he could key in the first passcode. 'What if it's a trick? A decoy to make us open the doors for him? He could just be blocking their comms somehow, just like the sensors and cameras. Or...'

Basil forced himself to think - and also to feel. What was his intuition telling him?

"The air…" he muttered, remembering Caraway's words and his own fleeting impression. "It's in the air. Whatever is blocking our sensors and causing those illusions is moving through the air. He was never here..."

It was all a decoy. Rather than moving along the path of downed sensors, the intruder had just sent whatever was causing the blackout flowing down the corridors and taken another route to the vault.

'He might already be inside. He might be waiting for us to open the way in,' Basil thought. Both were possible. He had to account for both.

Taking a steadying breath, Basil came to a decision.

"Initiate full lockdown of the building!" he commanded. "Order everyone away from the entrances! Mark anyone moving outward as an intruder!"

"But, sir, we won't be in position to stop him from escaping!" one of the agents protested.

"Do it!" Basil said firmly.

'Under full lockdown, it's impossible to leave,' he thought. 'Even the air vents are sealed shut. We'll only have a few hours of air, but he'll be trapped here with us, and we'll have reinforcements incoming. So he'll have to make a break for it before the lockdown is complete. And the last area sealed is… the northern sector, block M13. There! That's where he's go!'

The entire building seemed to shake in its foundations as the lockdown began. Emergency red lights flashed and a klaxon wailed as thick blast doors and massive metal shutters began to slide into place around the perimeter, covering every possible opening and locking down with a steady countdown of echoing metallic thuds.

Basil struggled to stay on his feet as he rushed to intercept the intruder. He could only hope that the would-be thief was having the same difficulties. Had he hesitated when the lockdown began? Did he take a moment to realize what was happening? Those scarce seconds would make the difference between failure and success.

"Intruder identified in block M16!" came a sudden report from the command center. "Halt immediately! Everyone is ordered away from the perimeter!"

However, the figure spotted on one of the cameras did not respond.

"Who is that?" one of the operators wondered. "Is that one of ours?" Certainly, the neat black suit looked like an agent's, but the young man's features were concealed by large sunglasses and his messy hairstyle wasn't immediately familiar to any of them.

"No, it's the thief!" Basil said with absolute certainty. As he rounded the corner, the back of the fleeing man came into view. "I see him! Hey, you! Stop!"

The intruder barely spared a glance back. He was almost to the window, and the shutter that would seal it hadn't begun to move yet.

And at the worst possible moment, Basil felt his Dying Will Mode begin to flicker out.

Activated artificially, with the help of the pills developed by the Vongola Family, Dying Will Mode only lasted a short while. Basil had trained to keep track of the time he had, but in the confusion, he had lost count of the minutes.

He was already slowing. Basil could continue to fight, even through the crushing feeling throughout his body that followed Dying Will Mode, but he could see that he wouldn't make it in time.

Just a few seconds would make the difference between success and failing the mission his master had entrusted to him.

Basil refused to fail. The pill case was already in his hand. His master had cautioned him - ordered him, really - to never use more than one pill and not in quick succession. The strain places on his body would be too great, potentially causing permanent damage.

'Master, please forgive me, but I have to choice!' Basil thought, throwing back the second pill.

The surge of power was instantaneous, sweeping away his fatigue. The flame on his head flared once more, and his eyes glimmered with the same fire. Everything stood out in sudden, sharp relief.

"You won't get away," he said, his faintly glowing eyes fixed on the intruder's back. In just a few almost leaping stride, he was upon his target.

Hearing him approach, the thief tensed. He spun around toward Basil, but instead of facing his pursuer, he ripped off his disguise and sent the suit jacket flying between them. Drawing his Metal Edge, Basil easily sliced the cloth in two, but the second's pause was enough for the thief to once again gain ground.

His white dress shirt had been loosened and his tie had been lost, revealing the tight dark undershirt beneath. With his concealing sunglasses also gone, the thief quickly pulled up the collar of his undershirt like a mask to cover the lower half of his face. His brown eyes were surprisingly soft, but determined.

The ornate box containing the rings was grasped under his arm, and Basil let his boomerang fly. At the last moment, the intruder tried to jerk out of the way, but he was too late, and the tip of the Metal Edge, infused with Rain Flames to sharpen and lengthen, cut cleanly through the box.

Forced to release his hold or lose an arm, the thief could only watch as pieces of the box scattered through the air. Among them, seven rings glittered - six for the Guardians, and the last, different from the others.

Basil and the thief shared the same thought. That one! If he could just get the Sky Ring, it would be enough.

Both jumped toward it.

In Dying Will Mode, Basil had the physical advantage by a wide margin, and he easily soared over his opponent. What he didn't expect was for the thief to settle for grabbing him around the waist and pulling him down.

They crashed to the floor in a tangle of limbs, but somehow the thief managed to come out on top. Planting his foot in Basil's face, he scurried away. His hand groped along the floor for the Sky Ring, sliding it clumsily on his middle finger, even as he rushed toward the exit, where the lockdown shutter had begun to descend.

"Wait!" Basil yelled, scrambling to his feet and trying to staunch his bleeding nose. He had missed the return of his weapon, and hitting the floor that hard had knocked him out of Dying Will Mode, the accumulated strain rushing back with enough force to make him stumble.

Still, as he watched, Basil felt a growing sense of triumph. The intruder wouldn't be able to make it in time. It was already too late.

The gap beneath the blast shutter was narrowing to barely a crack, even as the thief rushed forward at full tilt. "No!" he yelled, lunging toward the disappearing opening, his hand outstretched.

'I can't lose here! I have to make it! Otherwise… What will happen to Vongola? What will happen to the world?'

He didn't let himself slow down or hesitate, even as a painful collision seemed imminent.

His fingers brushed against cold metal. The slam and click of the last blast shutter sliding in place echoed through the building.

Brilliant orange fire burst through the hallway, blinding Basil.

'These are… Sky Flames?!' he thought in disbelief.

Sky Flames were the rarest of the Dying Will Flames. They belonged to leaders and great men, and those able to utilize Sky Flames were highly sought after, not just in the mafia world. Yet Basil couldn't think of anyone fitting the thief's appearance, from any of CEDEF's databases.

And even beyond that, this amount of power…

Basil was lucky to be directly behind the intruder, but even so, the sheer heat and intensity of the flames made it hard to breathe. As the Flames cut off and dispersed, he was left gasping for air as he squinted against the hazy air.

The blast shutter had been almost completely melted away, the edges of the massive opening still glowing white. That gate had been meant to contain even a Guardian; even with Dying Will Mode, Basil would have had no hope of getting through no matter how long he tried.

Basil stumbled to the opening and stared down at the thief's figure, where he had landed in the street. The intruder had stumbled and fallen to his knees, only now beginning to pick himself up. His eyes, reflecting the glow of the melted metal, were wide with surprise.

He hadn't expected that either. A terrible anticipation began to build somewhere in Basil's gut.

Their eyes met for a moment, before they both looked down, at the hand that had wielded the massive Sky Flames.

On the thief's finger, a small, brilliant tongue of fire still danced over the Vongola Sky Ring.

"Impossible…" Basil whispered. "The only ones who can summon a Flame from the Sky Ring are…"

...those accepted as worthy of leading the Vongola Famiglia.

The Boss.

Or their successor.

~.~.~

Unlike Basil, Tsuna had no way of knowing what exactly the Sky Ring's reaction meant. All he knew was that the ring had allowed him to channel his Flames better than ever before, and it had saved him in the nick of time.

Shaking away his surprise, Tsuna stumbled to his feet. There was no doubt that the CEDEF had called for reinforcements, and he needed to get away before they arrived. He had already suffered two major setbacks - losing the other rings and being forced to reveal his ability to summon Sky Flames. He had no desire to try his lousy luck any further.

"Wait!" the young CEDEF agent called out, two stories up. "Please wait!"

Something about his tone made Tsuna hesitate for a moment, before common sense took priority. It wasn't just the CEDEF and the rest of Vongola he had to worry about now. From his earlier scoping of the area, Tsuna knew he was in full view of several cameras - in the nearby businesses and at the intersection. His conspicuous use of Sky Flames was going to catch the attention of many, many people he had no desire to meet.

With one last glance at the young CEDEF agent - reaching out toward him but unable to pass through the still-molten ruined metal shutter - Tsuna turned tail and ran.

His instinct as the Phantom Thief was to get up off ground level, both for practical reasons and to better make dramatic scenes. Taking a step up onto a low wall, he pushed off and leapt up toward the streetlight, with the intention of catching hold and flipping on top of it.

Instead, his Sky Flames flared again in mid-leap, sending him literally flying up, far past his original goal. Tsuna flailed wildly for a moment before he managed to touch down on top of the streetlight, only for the motion of straightening to send him flying again.

He landed clumsily on the roof of the nearest building next, this time forcefully cutting off his Flames. The Vongola Ring was warm against hand, making him glare down at it.

"Stop helping me!" he hissed, yanking it off with an effort. It fit his finger entirely too well - when he had first picked it up, it had been loose, clearly meant for a much larger hand. And, as he held it, Tsuna could swear the ring pulsed with warmth.

The unease Tsuna had been ignoring began to grow. This wasn't just a case of him having the right element to use the ring. This was something more.

Shaking his head and shoving the ring deep into his pocket, Tsuna stood up and started running again.

He was a wanted man now - probably the most wanted in the entire mafia world.

~.~.~

Nervously, Iemitsu checked the clock display on his cellphone. It was the appointed time, but he couldn't quite bring himself to make the call. Instead, he swallowed nervously.

What was he supposed to tell the Ninth? Oh, this wasn't good. They hadn't seen this coming, and they definitely didn't need this complication. They didn't have time for this.

Down in the kitchen of the Sawada home, Nana hummed cheerfully as she cooked up another feast for her husband. She hadn't questioned why Iemitsu suddenly returned after years away or ask where he had been. However, for the first time since they had met all those years ago (Iemitsu couldn't help sighing in a lovey-dovey way at the mere thought of that time), Iemitsu wished Nana wasn't quite so accepting of everything.

Probably because this was his first time dealing with her permissiveness from the other side.

What was he supposed to tell the Ninth? I'm sorry, but my son-

The sharp ringing of his phone made the Young Lion of Vongola jump.

He stared at the device as if it was the most poisonous snake in the world before finally steeling his nerves.

"Hello," Iemitsu answered, forcing voice to remain steady.

"Iemitsu," Nono greeted, the short, weary tone of his voice instantly setting the Outside Advisor even more on edge. "Did you arrive safely?"

"Yes, I'm in Namimori now. Just got here a short while ago," Iemitsu replied.

"...There has been a complication," Nono said.

"Really? Um, here too, as it happens," Iemitsu said, chuckling nervously.

There was a short pause as Timoteo digested his words. "Of course," he said finally, sighing. Instead of asking, he continued, "The break-in was tonight. It was only partially successful. Young Basil was more determined than expected and managed to protect the six Guardian rings. However, the thief was able to escape with the Sky Ring."

"The other rings can't be used without the Sky Ring," Iemitsu said, rubbing a hand over his stubble. "Sounds like the thief got what he came for, in the end."

"There's something else," Nono said. Iemitsu felt himself tense, his intuition suddenly stirring. "He was able to use the Sky Ring."

A heavy, stunned silence fell between the two men.

"What?! That's impossible!" Iemitsu exclaimed, jumping to his feet. Downstairs, Nana looked up for a moment before shrugging and turning back to her cooking. Lowering his voice, Iemitsu demanded, "The Vongola Sky Ring can only be used by a descendant of Primo, isn't that right? Or were we mistaken about that all along?"

"I don't know," Nono admitted, his voice tight. "I had thought that was the case. But… Perhaps those candidates were rejected because they were unsuited, not because they lacked the right bloodline."

Iemitsu ran a hand over his face, his mind spinning. If that was true… that changed everything. All their plans, their decisions, their options, everything would have to be evaluated.

"However, I'm not sure if that's really the case," Nono continued, his voice taking on a slightly distant quality as he became lost in thought. "Something about that him… I had thought it was because he is a good, kind young man, maybe even that he has Sky Flames. I felt something from him. It might have been…"

"Primo's bloodline?"

"It's not impossible. There could be a branch we don't know about, one that hadn't been recorded," Nono concluded. "I don't know which possibility it is, but one thing is certain. The Sky Ring reacted to him."

"...What do you want to do?" Iemitsu asked.

"We'll proceed," Nono said, almost regretful but firm. Before Iemitsu could say anything, he continued, "No matter how nice a young man he is, the Phantom Thief is not one of ours. He is not even part of the mafia. He is an outsider. Even if we both declared our support, the family would never accept him, especially after he stole the Sky Ring like that."

But the Outside Advisor's son was a different matter. He was part of the Family, by extension. Even if the CEDEF was considered to be a Vongola outside the Vongola, they were still seen as part of "us," and their leader's child would have a legitimacy that no outsider could hope to attain.

Even if that son had never even heard of the mafia before.

"Now," Nono said, firmly moving on to the next subject, "how is young Tsunayoshi?"

"Ah, well," Iemitsu said, all his dread suddenly rushing back. "He's… not here."

There was a profound silence from the other end of the line.

Iemitsu broke first.

"My sweet Nana said he left right after finishing middle school! He didn't tell her much except saying he was going to find 'the truth' and he hasn't been back since!" Iemitsu blurted out. Even a continent away, the Ninth had the power to inspire a profound sense of guilt in his men. "She sends him messages, and he calls every few months, so I've ordered my team to track those, but-"

"Iemitsu," Nono cut him off, "Are you saying your son has been missing for years?"

"It's not that serious," Iemitsu hastily assured him. "He probably just took off in a fit of teenage rebellion. Young people these days, you know…" He chuckled, awkwardly.

"On the contrary, I think you should take this more seriously," Timoteo insisted, his voice growing strained. "He could have been kidnapped, or worse. We have no way of knowing where he will turn up… or in what condition."

Like Massimo. Like Federico.

Realizing what Timoteo was thinking, Iemitsu tried to sound reassuring. "I'm sure it's nothing like that," he said. "Tsuna's been keeping touch with Nana all this time, and if he really had been taken by someone, they would have sent us a message. I'll set my team to work tracking him down. We'll find my cute little Tuna-fish in no time!"

Nono was silent for a long moment. "...See that you do," he said finally. "We don't have much time. The Varia have already moved to demand custody of the remaining rings. We must find Tsunayoshi and take him under our protection."

After ending the call, Timoteo stared out across the Vongola mansion grounds for a long time. Dawn was just beginning to creep across the still-dark sky, marking the end of a hectic, confused night. It had certainly been full of surprises, for everyone involved.

He still thought that Iemitsu was taking the matter too lightly. Iemitsu didn't understand the pain and desolation of losing a child, or he would not have been so blase regarding his son's disappearance. You only had to look away for a moment, and they were suddenly gone forever, with no way of ever get them back...

Caught up in his grief, it would take Timoteo a long time to notice the insistent nudging of his intuition and to recognize what it was trying to convey.

It would have saved them a lot of trouble, if he had realized that Sawada Tsunayoshi, Iemitsu's only child and fifth generation descendant of Vongola Primo, was the same person as the Phantom Thief, the successor chosen by the Sky Ring.

~.~.~

**Notes**

EDITED: 1/16/2014. Changed a bit about Dying Will Mode. Took out Hyper Dying Will Mode, since it's unnecessary. Now, the distinction will be between naturally activated or with the use of pills.

Q: Adult Arcobaleno? Why? How?!

A: Yes, because "I haven't figure it out yet, shut up." Anyway, I'm only really doing the Varia/Ring Battles arc, so it's not like the Arcobaleno and their situation are important. I do have some ideas… Suffice to say, the Arcobaleno are still a thing, and there is still a sort of curse involved. It just doesn't include being made into infants.

Q: Does Nono know about Tsuna being Kaitou?

A: As shown in this chapter, no. Nono doesn't know that he's hiring the very person he wants to become his successor… to buy time for his successor to be located and trained. There's not really any reason for him to think so, even if he knows that the Phantom Thief has Sky Flames (and even that he was just guessing on).

Q: That's not how the rings work. Or Flames. Or Dying Will Mode.

A: ...Yes. But that's how it's gonna be. For the purposes of this story, Dying Will Mode can be induced in anyone through bullets or pills, and if they are skilled enough, they can learn to enter it on their own. However, Hyper Dying Will Mode is much more difficult, dangerous and straining. Only a select few can use it successfully, and even fewer can enter it at will.

Q: Just how strong is Tsuna?

A: Ability to steal: 11/10. Combat ability? Who knows. He's pretty good. He's powerful and knows how to use his Flames well. He's also reasonably physically capable. But Kaitou-Tsuna prefers to run, so he almost never fights.

Q: How could Tsuna just take off?

A: Permissive parent(s). Also, to my understanding, high school isn't compulsory in Japan.

This chapter might as well have been called, "In which the Vongola think they're smarter than everyone else, only to have all their plans messed up by Tsuna (with help from Primo)." But hey, now that we've got the basic premise set up, it's time to move on to more fun things!

Thanks to everyone who reviewed. I hope this chapter didn't disappoint.

I'm planning to update about once a week. The next update will be next Monday, or maybe even this Friday, depending how thing go (by which I mean "depending on how many reviews I get," so please review!).

~.~.~

_Next time: Gokudera Hayato._

~.~.~


	3. Beginnings

~.~.~

**Phantom Thief Decimo**

_Previously: Tsuna encountered strong resistance in his attempt to steal the Vongola Rings from the CEDEF, forcing him to leave behind six of them. To everyone's shock, he was able to use the Sky Ring in his escape, marking him as a potential successor. Meanwhile, Nono had hired Reborn to help the Phantom Thief evade the Varia, and in Japan, Iemitsu discovered that his son had left home years before._

~.~.~

"What a mess," Reborn said again. It bore repeating.

He hadn't needed Nono to update him on the situation. Once he accepted a job, he put his entire effort into completing it successfully, and getting a hold of the footage from the security cameras outside the CEDEF headquarters had been an obvious move, not just for Reborn, but for anyone interested in the Vongola's precarious internal situation.

He had seen the telltale signs of the Sky Ring activating, and he was sure that he wasn't the only one - the Varia were certainly aware by now that Xanxus had an unexpected competitor. It wouldn't be long before the rest of the mafia world, and the criminal society beyond, knew as well.

Naturally, this would only make Reborn's job of keeping the thief alive that much harder.

And that was without even getting into what would come at the end. What if the thief decided he wanted to keep the Sky Ring? Nono had said he wasn't the ambitious type, but Nono had also made it clear he wasn't about to accept the kid as a successor.

Reborn wasn't sure about the wisdom of that. Even if their true power had not been drawn sealed, the Vongola Rings were a special case. What kind of person was this Phantom Thief, to make the Sky Ring react just like that, without a tuning or Inheritance Ceremony?

A Sky Flame user, certainly, and Timoteo had called him a nice young man, but what else?

Reborn had also done his own research, on the Phantom Thief's fairly short but exciting career. There had been a lot to go through - news articles, police reports, incident reports from a range of criminal groups, and the rare dossier from someone he had managed to anger enough to make himself a serious enemy. However, the Phantom Thief had avoided them all with surprising alacrity.

It wasn't the jewelry and art thefts that interested Reborn, though he had been able to determine some interesting things about the Phantom Thief's capabilities. While those targets were chosen with the aim of showing off, they were ultimately about money. No, it was the other jobs that Reborn studied closely - the crazy, fantastical, ridiculous ones.

Claiming to come for treasures, secrets, promises and the occasional abstract concept, what was the Phantom Thief aiming for?

All of Reborn's research had turned up surprisingly little about the Phantom Thief's origins and past. There was no particular pattern to his movements, beyond a lazy sort of meandering across Italy. He had been an amateur at first - his modus operandi had been shaped gradually and his skills had sharpened. Judging from the stage persona he had adopted, the kid was probably acting out, Reborn judged.

All that made it hard to predict what the thief would do and where he would go.

Certainly, Reborn could take the easy way - just keep track of the Varia and interfere when they got too close. Vongola's independent assassination squad wasn't particularly subtle when they caught scent of their prey.

But Reborn was a higher level of professional. He was determined to find the Phantom Thief first.

And he had just the lead he needed - the very first heist the Phantom Thief had ever made.

~.~.~

**Chapter 3: Beginnings ~ A Storm of Loyalty**

~.~.~

_Women in ball gowns and evening dresses with long slits and open backs, men in full suits with elaborate capes and cloaks, all in fancy masks of sequins and feathers, filled the large banquet hall and drifted past Tsuna's slightly awed eyes._

_He had thought his own "borrowed" outfit - a black tuxedo and top hat, with a red-lined cloak and a simple white domino mask - might be too gaudy, but now Tsuna suspected it might be too plain._

_A costume party at a castle... No, that was too much of a commoner term. This was a masquerade, though the castle was definitely just that._

_It seemed too fantastical to be any part of his life. Thing like that didn't happen to ordinary, boring, no-good guys like him, right? But then, many things Tsuna had never expected to do or see had happened ever since he left Namimori._

_And even before that, things had been slipping into his quiet, ordinary life that had no place there._

_Or maybe, his life had never been what he thought. After all, ordinary people didn't have relatives in the mafia._

_Scowling, Tsuna downed the last of his drink. The elegant, long-stemmed glass felt awkward in his hand. A waiter appeared quickly to take it from him - the staff had clearly learned from the three other glasses he had fumbled and dropped._

_That wasn't good. He didn't want to stand out any more than necessary. Even under a mask, it was better if no one remembered him._

_After all, he had come to the castle with intent of robbing them blind._

_It was simple. Tsuna was broke. He didn't even have enough money to get back home. And whose fault was that? The mafia's. So the mafia would pay for his plane ride back to Japan. It wasn't like they couldn't afford it, and the invitation to a costume party that Tsuna had pickpocketed off some mafia member seemed like the perfect opportunity._

_Checking his mask, Tsuna began to move away from the crowd of partygoers. Now that the masquerade was in full swing, it was time for him to get to work. In the moment when even the security guards and wait staff were distracted, Tsuna slipped out of the banquet hall and down the corridor to the more private parts of the castle._

_The din of the party faded away into tense, uneasy silence as Tsuna ghosted down the hallway, the thick, expensive carpet muffling his already quiet footsteps. The corridors and rooms were deserted, the servants and residents preoccupied with the party, leaving Tsuna free to casually peruse the expensive statues, paintings and candelabras._

_While the decorations were all quite nice, showing the family's ill-begotten wealth, Tsuna was looking for something easier to transport - a nice set of pearls or maybe a necklace with a big gem. Surely they had at least a few family jewels to go with the castle._

_He was just about to duck into a likely-looking room when the voices reached him._

_"I already told you! I'm not doing it!" a young man yelled, followed by the sound of something breaking. Tsuna cringed._

_"Hayato!" an older man rebuked him, quieter but firm and authoritative. "Your recital was even announced in the invitations! Think of how it will look if my own son refuses to follow my word!"_

_"Then you shouldn't've announced it! I didn't want to celebrate this day!" the young man snarled back. "Today, of all days… I definitely won't play the piano."_

_"You will," the older man said. "You're seventeen now, Hayato. It's time to stop acting like a child. If you want to be part of this family, act like it."_

_Tsuna had only a split second to scramble away as the teenager he had been eavesdropping on rushed out of the room and stalked down the corridor. Left behind, the father sighed and followed after a few moments._

_Creeping out after their footsteps faded down the hall, Tsuna scowled. "Fathers are the worst," he muttered angrily. "They always think they know best, but they're really completely useless..."_

_He glanced toward the rooms, but his motivation was completely gone. He couldn't stop thinking about his own useless old man, and there Tsuna had a feeling that if he tried to steal anything just then, he'd end up causing an entire chain reaction of disasters and destroyed property._

_Sighing, Tsuna shook his head and turned back. This was a bust - as always thanks to his no-good, useless father. He'd have to find another way to pay for his ticket back to Japan. Maybe a jewelry store or something would be a better choice..._

_When he slipped back into the banquet hall, Tsuna felt too agitated to even enjoy the atmosphere any further. Instead, he grabbed another drink off a passing waiter's tray. This one was layered in stripes of color, but he didn't bother tasting it. It burned a little in the back of his throat as he downed it irritably._

_The hubbub of the banquet hall began to suddenly die down, until all the guests had fallen silent. Draw out of his increasingly unhappy thoughts, Tsuna followed the movements of the crowd as they converged around the piano that had been wheeled in on one side of the great chamber, next to the wall of windows looking out across the garden._

_The older man Tsuna had overheard - the master of the castle, it seemed - stood beside the piano, together with his son. He must have been able to convince the boy to cooperate after all._

_"Ladies and gentleman!" he announced. "I'm honored to present my virtuoso son, Hayato, on his first recital in nine years! Thank you, all of you, for coming to this celebration of his seventeenth birthday!"_

_The guests applauded politely, all attention focused on the birthday boy. Standing on tiptoes, Tsuna caught a few glimpses of him. The man's son just looked more and more miserable, an angry, cornered snarl on his handsome face._

_"If you're so against it, then why don't you say something?" Tsuna muttered, turning away._

_But what he was really thinking was, 'Why didn't I say anything?'_

_He had come halfway across the world to demand an explanation from his useless father, but in the end, Tsuna hadn't even confronted the man._

_It wasn't that he didn't have anything to say to his father. Rather, there was too much, and he couldn't find words to put to any of it. He had been too angry and also too hurt._

_And… somewhere in his heart, Tsuna hadn't wanted a confrontation. He hadn't wanted to say angry, hurt words that might end up creating an unbridgeable gap between them. He didn't want to lose one of the only two members of his family._

_'Why am I always so no-good?' Tsuna thought, feeling frustrated all over again. 'Why can't I get away from that, even after I came so far and did so much? Why can't I become someone else?'_

_For this one night, he wanted to stop being Sawada Tsunayoshi. He wanted to no longer be clumsy, and insecure, and angry about his father. He wanted to be self-confident, and cunning, and faceless._

_Wasn't becoming someone else the whole point of a masquerade?_

_"And now, let's begin!" the master of the castle announced, somewhere behind him. In the ensuing silence, the scraping of a chair being pushed back and then pulled forward was easily audible, and Tsuna could swear so was the deep feeling of misery from the man's son._

_Dame-Tsuna would definitely have ducked his head and used this chance to slip away, unable to do anything else. But for this one night, Tsuna wasn't going to be Dame-Tsuna anymore._

~.~.~

_In the center of the crowd, the birthday boy hesitated, his hands hovering over the piano keys. They were shaking. Gokudera Hayato didn't want to do this. He didn't want to play the piano again, especially not on this day. But, he didn't want to lose the only family he had either._

_He could feel everyone's eyes on him, hidden behind glittering masks - his father, the guests, they were all waiting._

_Squeezing his eyes shut, he gritted his teeth and brought his hands down._

_But before his fingers could hit the keys, his father's heavy hand gripped his shoulder tightly. Gokudera spun around in surprise, only to find the older man staring upward. A shadow passed over the crowd, and someone gasped loudly. Murmuring, shocked, nervous, excited, broke out among the guests._

_Up on the grand chandelier stood an unknown figure - a young man in a tuxedo, cape and mask._

_"Get down from there!" Gokudera's father yelled. "Who do you think you are?"_

_"I…" the mystery figure stuttered, before gathering himself. "I am a phantom thief! And I have come to steal the most precious thing here tonight!"_

_Gokudera stared up, flabbergast. He wasn't alone. The guests were also staring in surprise, excited whispers breaking out among them._

_"Phantom Thief? I've never heard of him."_

_"Must be some new upstart."_

_"The most precious thing here tonight? What does he mean?"_

_"You've got some guts to think you can steal from me, Phantom Thief," the master of the castle said, adding a mocking twist to the thief's new alias. "Come down from there, boy, and I might consider letting you go with just a firm warning."_

_"Hah! You should be honored that I came to steal from you! I don't appear for any ordinary thing," the newly dubbed Phantom Thief declared, just barely hiding the quaver in his voice. "There's only one thing here worth taking! The highlight of this night! That song!"_

_He pointed dramatically at the young musician and the piano._

_"Like hell!" Gokudera snarled, more on reflex than anything, as he jumped to his feet. His hands automatically reached for his dynamite, and without thinking, he sent a stick flying, a trail of smoke coming for its lit fuse. Only his father's angry shout made his realize what a mistake he had made._

_For a single instance, the thief flailed in panic, before he burst into motion. Dropping down, he grabbed onto the curved bottom arms of the chandelier and swung forward, his body weight and momentum causing the crystal and gold fixture to swing with him._

_The dynamite Gokudera had thrown passed just under him, instead detonating at his back. The force of the explosion broke the thick chain holding the chandelier up and pushed the entire contraption even further along its curved vector._

_Guests screamed and scattered as the chandelier plummeted down, still flying forward as well. Gokudera tried to stand his ground, only to realize that the chandelier was headed straight for him. He scrambled away and, pressing up against the piano, rolled back on top of it._

_At the last moment before impact, the Phantom Thief launched himself away from the falling chandelier, flipping neatly to land on top of the piano, next to Gokudera, just as the chandelier crashed into it from the side, wringing out a terrible cacophony of breaking crystal and discordant notes._

_The force of the impact sent the entire grand piano - chosen specifically for that night's performance because of the wheels that made it easy to move - along with the two teenagers on top of it, skidding violently backward. They crashed through the floor-to-ceiling glass windows and out into the garden, flying over the stairs, down from the veranda and onto the meticulously maintained paved path._

_Gokudera was pretty sure he was screaming, and he thought the Phantom Thief might have been too, but as they rushed along their wild ride, off the curved edge of the path and onto the clipped lawn, all he could do was cling to the piano lid and try not to pass out._

_Bushes and flower beds whipped past, making the speeding piano buck and threaten to overturn. Then, up ahead, the castle wall suddenly loomed large. The two teenagers exchanged a look of horror._

_"Gyaaah!" they both screamed and jumped away._

_The grand piano crashed into the wall with a deafening clang. Wood chips, cracked keys and assorted fragments rained down over the surrounding area._

_Gokudera had landed in another bush, and sitting up, he spit out a mouthful of leaves. The Phantom Thief, who had been forced to tuck and roll across the lawn, took a moment longer to stagger to his feet, rubbing his aching head and back._

_"Never doing that again," he muttered, reaching up to make sure his mask was still in place. His top hat had been lost somewhere in their mad ride, leaving his brown hair messier than ever._

_"Why the hell did you do it the first time?!" Gokudera demanded, searching his pockets for another stick of dynamite. Unfortunately, most of his armaments had been confiscated before the party._

_"I-I told you, I took the most precious thing - the song you were going to perform!" the Phantom Thief announced, puffing up in the manner of small defenseless animals everywhere. "Since the piano's in pieces, you're not going to be able to play it!"_

_That logic was completely twisted, but he was probably right. With the party completely ruined, Gokudera doubted his father would force him to play._

_He refused to admit that he felt a sense of relief bubbling up._

_Gokudera snorted, looking away pointedly. "What did you think you were doing, besides making a spectacle of yourself? You're going to have my father's entire Family gunning for you!"_

_The Phantom Thief let out a muffled squeak of terror, as if just realizing what he had done. As Gokudera stared at him in shock, the thief clamped his hands over his mouth and quickly spun around, trying to hide his embarrassment._

_"I… I didn't want to hear it," he finally said, his voice quiet and not at all like his prior brash proclamations. "I didn't want to hear you playing when your heart wasn't in it. I think… if you're going to play, it should only be if you want to, not because someone else is making you do it..."_

_After a several long moments of silence, the Phantom Thief chanced a glance over his shoulder, only to find Gokudera staring at him with an expression he couldn't read._

_"You're right," Gokudera declared suddenly, his entire demeanor shifting. He straightened, his expression brightening in a way that made him look far less surly and more earnest. "You're absolutely right, and I've decided! You stole my performance, so you will be the only one I'll play for!"_

_"...What?" the Phantom Thief said blankly._

_"My song, no, all my songs are yours!"_

_"No, wait," the thief tried to say. "I meant that you should… I'm… I'm giving them to you!"_

_"And I'm choosing to give them to you!"_

_"But I don't need them!"_

_"Then what do you need? I'll help you in any way I can!"_

_'What's with this sudden personality one-eighty?' Tsuna thought desperately, slowly backing away from Gokudera's eager gaze._

_"I'm going to become your loyal follower!" Gokudera insisted. "After all, you're headed for great things, aren't you? You've announced yourself to the entire criminal society in such a spectacular manner! And doing it at my birthday… this must be fate!"_

_"N-no, that's really not…" Tsuna stammered, waving his hands frantically._

_The sounds of pursuit broke through their standoff, making both teenagers glance back toward the castle. The shouting and pounding footsteps were quickly growing closer, and Tsuna shook his head._

_"Anyway, right now I need to get out of here," he said. Suddenly finding himself uncertain, Tsuna fell back on good manners and bowed. "It was nice meeting you, um…"_

_"Gokudera Hayato," his new follower said, puffing up proudly. "Leave this to me, Master Phantom Thief! I'll cover your escape!"_

_Sighing, Tsuna decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth any longer. It wasn't like he would ever see Gokudera again..._

~.~.~

"Good afternoon, Kaitou-sama!"

"Hiiieeee!"

With a startled shriek, Tsuna shot awake and promptly tumbled out of bed. The floor of his newest hideout was cold and hard against his face. Sadly, this was far from his first time waking up in such a fashion.

"Hi, Gokudera-kun," he grumbled. "How do you always keep finding me?" The last part came out as more of a plea for mercy than anything, but Gokudera seemed cheerfully oblivious as he climbed in through the window.

"Kaitou-sama, I'm your loyal follower! I've followed your career from the very beginning! I've studied your methodology extensively," Gokudera said, nodding to himself. "I know your methods and the kinds of locations you favor. Also, I checked every possible place in this town and the next one over."

That was just like Gokudera, who was always far more excited about Tsuna's job than Tsuna himself. Tsuna still remembered how Gokudera had proudly explained that he had thoroughly researched all Japanese media containing the concept of "kaitou" to better understand Tsuna's "inspiration and ideal." Tsuna hadn't even known half those shows existed. He kind of wished he still didn't, actually.

'He always sounds like a stalker,' Tsuna thought uncharitably. Groaning, he pulled his blankets back over his head.

"Kaitou-sama, you don't need to worry about hiding your face!" Gokudera said with the same terrible earnestness that made it so hard to Tsuna to just get rid of him. "I haven't looked! I've been keeping my eyes closed, since you haven't yet trusted me with the secret of your identity!"

"Um, yeah, thanks," Tsuna muttered. Reaching out, he groped along the bed stand for a pair of sunglasses and shoved them crookedly on his face. "Okay, you can look."

"I brought you some sandwiches," Gokudera said, turning to him and holding up a brown paper bag. "You must be tired after last night. It was another of those special jobs, wasn't it?"

Tsuna twitched telling as he reached for the food. "R-really? What makes you think that?" he mumbled around a bite of the sandwich. There were definite upsides to Gokudera's stalking - he always got Tsuna's favorite food.

Puffing up proudly, Gokudera said, "I always know! Even if Kaitou-sama's card was not publicly seen, I know it was delivered." His expression grew more serious. "I also noticed you preparing for a heist, but since there was no announcement, it must have been one of those jobs - the ones that won't be credited to the Phantom Thief."

He looked disapproving, the way he always did when Tsuna took an "off the books" job.

"You broke into CEDEF headquarters, didn't you?" Gokudera said, nodding to himself. "Kaitou-sama is truly amazing! I would expect no less. If only everyone knew that the Phantom Thief can do that, no one would laugh at you or call you a low-rank thrill-seeking amateur!"

"So that's what people are saying about me?" Tsuna said, feeling a little annoyed. He shook his head. "But that's for the best. I don't want anyone to connect the Phantom Thief with stuff like that. Those kinds of jobs create dangerous enemies. I'd rather not have someone like the Vongola constantly gunning for me. It's better this way."

Gokudera huffed, but this was an old argument between them. As far as Gokudera was concerned, the Phantom Thief deserved recognition for those hard, dangerous tasks, but Tsuna felt that anonymity was far better than recognition, in his case.

Tsuna paused in mid-chew. "How did you know I went to the CEDEF?" he asked, swallowing hastily. "You didn't know about what I did on the other ones!"

"If Kaitou-sama wants to keep things secret, I respect that," Gokudera said rather primly. "But this time I heard about it from the mafia rumor mill. It was obvious who had done it."

"Everyone's already heard about it, huh?" Tsuna mused, resuming chewing thoughtfully. That meant the Varia had probably heard about it too. They might already be hunting for him. Tsuna shuddered a little. Still, they wouldn't have much to go on. Tsuna had covered his tracks away from the CEDEF headquarters well, and without knowing that he was the Phantom Thief, they wouldn't be able to study his patterns the way Gokudera had.

Just another benefit of anonymity.

"Hey, Gokudera," Tsuna said slowly. Next to him, his self-proclaimed follower perked up. "You know a lot about the mafia, right? So, if the ring that belongs to a boss… kind of… reacts, does that-?"

A sharp, piercing buzzing drowned out his words.

Tsuna paused, looking up in surprise. The buzzing repeated, a little longer and more insistent now.

"What is that?" Tsuna wondered.

"I think that's your doorbell," Gokudera told him.

"I have a doorbell?!" Tsuna demanded. "But this is an abandoned house! No one's been living in it for ages! And besides that, no one's supposed to know I'm here!"

Gokudera's eyes narrowed, and he pulled out a handful of dynamite. "Shall I send them away, Kaitou-sama?" he offered.

"No, that's fine! I've got it!" Tsuna cut in quickly, scrambling to his feet. If Gokudera had his way, the entire neighborhood would be filled with explosions. That was no way to keep a low profile.

The doorbell buzzed again, followed by firm knocking. It sounded like their visitor was starting to get impatient.

"Yes, I'm coming!" Tsuna called out, fiddling with the lock. The long unused door refused to budge even as he pressed his entire weight against it, having gotten stuck in place.

Hearing his struggle, the person on the other side obligingly grasped the handle and, with a single easy motion, yanked the door open.

With a short cry, Tsuna overbalanced and went crashing down on the stone steps, at the visitor's feet.

Groaning in pain, Tsuna looked up, and up. Black leather shoes, black slacks on long, long legs, a black suit jacket over a surprisingly colorful shirt and tie… Half of a handsome face, before the stylish fedora was pulled down to hide the man's eyes, even from Tsuna's angle.

"Chaos," the man greeted him in a lazy drawl. "Took you long enough. Aren't you going to invite me in?"

~.~.~

Reborn stared down at the Phantom Thief, enjoying the stunned, disbelieving look on his face.

"Uh… Y-yes?" the kid stammered, scrambling to his feet and fixing his sunglasses. "Please come in?"

Before he had even finished the invitation, Reborn was shouldering his way into the abandoned house. The downstairs area had been left completely untouched by the building's new, illegal occupant, all dusty floors and emptied rooms.

Most of the second story was in the same state, but it was easy to find the large room with bay windows that the Phantom Thief had claimed for himself. It looked like a college dorm room, making Reborn wrinkle his nose - used clothes strewn about haphazardly, food wrappers and crumbs all over the place, just a general mess. In other words, the sort of things that happened when a young man lived alone without adult supervision… or self-discipline and a sense of cleanliness.

"Alright, clean this up," Reborn ordered. "I'm refuse to conduct business in this pigsty."

Tsuna, who had helplessly trailed after him up the stairs, stared in incomprehension. So did Gokudera, just noticing the new arrival.

While Tsuna's expression slowly shifted into annoyance, Gokudera's brightened.

"Mr. Reborn? What are you doing here?" he blurted out. Bowing deeply, he added, "It's an honor!"

Even the Phantom Thief recognized the name of the World's Greatest Hitman, and his reaction was the other standard response to Reborn's presence - blinding terror.

"Hiieeee…" he keened, while trying to surreptitiously edge away.

"You're Bianchi's younger brother. Hurricane Bomb Hayato, wasn't it?" Reborn said, pointedly turning to Gokudera instead, so that Tsuna sighed a little in relief, assuming he wasn't Reborn's target after all. It was always better to let them have a little breathing room before suddenly tightening the noose.

Gokudera beamed at just being recognized. "That's right!" he said. "What can I do for you, Mr. Reborn?"

"Oh, I just wanted to thank you for showing me the way," Reborn said casually. "Otherwise, I would have had to waste time figuring out the Phantom Thief's movements myself."

They both turned pale and terrified at that, Reborn noted sadistically.

'How did he know?' Tsuna thought desperately.

"It was easy to figure out," Reborn said, as if answering. "Gokudera left home immediately after the Phantom Thief's first appearance and was then spotted in the vicinity of each subsequent heist. There's a limit to coincidence, you know."

Smirking, Reborn took a step toward the cowering Phantom Thief, only for Gokudera to finally break out of his shocked stupor and move between them.

"Kaitou-sama, I apologize," he said through gritted teeth, his hands already full of dynamite. "My carelessness has endangered you. Hurry and run. I'll cover you!"

"Forget it!" Tsuna hissed back. "It's not like I could really get away from someone like that. It's not your fault anyway. He would've found me no matter what!"

'Why is he even here?! Who did I piss off that much?' he thought.

"I'm flattered, although it's only the truth," Reborn said, his tone full of false modesty. "But to your question, I'm here because of Nono."

Reborn had expected protests, denials or curses at Nono's betrayal, and in a way, the Phantom Thief would be right to assume that he had been played. However, Tsuna only stared at him, his brow furrowing behind his sunglasses.

"Why?" Tsuna asked finally. "What happened with the old man? Is he alright?"

It wasn't any fun if he didn't play along, Reborn decided, losing some of his sadistic euphoria. "I told you, I refuse to conduct business in this pigsty," he said instead, changing subjects without warning. "So clean it up. Now."

Suddenly, there was a gun in his hand, despite neither teenager seeing him make any move to draw. What little color they had regained immediately drained away as they scrambled to obey.

~.~.~

This was adding insult to injury, in Tsuna's opinion. Not only was he possibly about to be killed in the near future, he was being forced to clean his own murder scene first! Even his mother hadn't managed to make his clean his room.

Admittedly, his mother hadn't tried asking while holding up a gun with understated, threatening ease.

Fortunately, Tsuna hadn't brought many possessions with him and had only been at that particular hideout for a short while, so cleaning up didn't take long, even when Reborn's amused, predatory gaze kept making Tsuna trip over himself.

Finally, Tsuna and Gokudera were able to collapse on the sparkling (as much as possible) floor in front of Reborn, who had perched in the room's only chair.

"Good," he said, "now we can get down to business."

And suddenly, Tsuna wished they had taken a little longer.

"It's better you didn't think of it," Reborn replied. "If you had tried stalling, I would've shot you."

Trembling openly now, Tsuna tried to curl in one himself. If he was going to kill Tsuna, why couldn't he just get on with it? Next to Tsuna, Gokudera growled, but even he was cringing away.

"So, my business with the Phantom Thief," Reborn said slowly, drawing out each moment with clear relish, "as requested by the Ninth…"

'Get on with it!' Tsuna thought desperately, while Reborn's smirk widened.

"...Is to assist him in evading the Varia until Nono's plan comes to fruition."

There was a profound silence.

"...What," Tsuna said. "What?! Then what was with that ominous buildup?!"

"I was messing with you," was Reborn's shameless reply.

Burying his face in his hands, Tsuna tried not to cry. He should have been happy to have someone like Reborn on his side, but all Tsuna could think was that he should have never taken this job.

~.~.~

Notes

Q: Speeding piano?!

A: Yes. This is still KHR after all. Besides, it's a mafia piano. It was made to withstand a lot. That particular piano had, in fact, been an instrument of murder on five separate occasions and survived no less than twelve shootouts. Unfortunately, it couldn't survive the Phantom Thief.

Q: So, "Phantom Thief?" "Kaitou?"

A: Tsuna just translated the Japanese term, but the Italians all assumed it was a wacky stage name. Gokudera did heavy-duty research on the term and found out its origins in Japanese, and he has been going on about "Kaitou-sama" ever since.

Q: What's up with Gokudera's timeline? Didn't he leave home as a kid?

A: Either he came back or he never left. I don't know. Art doesn't follow logic! *troll-face*

Q: What's up with Tsuna's timeline?

A: Tsuna left Japan after finishing middle school (in April, age 16) and went to Italy to get answers about his father. But after about six months (in September), he chickened out on confronting Iemitsu. One thing led to another and he ended up becoming the Phantom Thief.

Baaackstoryyyyy. Who doesn't love that?

This chapter was basically "how Tsuna made a friend through the unifying power of daddy issues," with extra Reborn for your reading pleasure. As a woman, I had to try very hard not to spend six paragraphs on Tsuna's slow pan up Reborn's body upon their first meeting. Please imagine it that way, okay~?

As I mentioned, updates will probably be on a weekly basis. You guys did well reviewing last chapter! So please keep it up, and I might update early...

~.~.~

_Next time: Fuuta de la Stella._

~.~.~


	4. Sleight of hand

~.~.~

**Phantom Thief Decimo**

_Previously: Tsuna debuted as the Phantom Thief at a costume party in honor of Gokudera's birthday, and the first thing he stole was "Gokudera's performance," earning himself a loyal follower. Unfortunately, that loyalty was used against him as Reborn easily followed Gokudera to Tsuna's hideout. Fortunately, he was sent to help… in theory, anyway._

~.~.~

"So the Ninth hired you to help me?" Tsuna repeated, still a little dubious. He felt torn between relief - having someone like Reborn, the number one hitman in the world, on his side was almost a guaranteed win - and a tiny bit insulted. Did he really seem like he needed help?

"More or less," Reborn said.

'That's not very reassuring,' Tsuna thought.

"It's not meant to be reassuring," Reborn assured him.

"Did you really steal the Vongola Sky Ring, Kaitou-sama?" Gokudera wondered, still a little stunned. There had been no choice but to give him a very brief summary of Nono's request and Tsuna's acceptance.

Shrugging, Tsuna fished around in the pockets of the pants he had worn the night before. Three wallets, two cellphones, five bracelets, an extra pair of sunglasses and a pill case later, he managed to procure the ring in question. It was warm against the palm of his hand as he held it up for Gokudera to examine.

"As expected of Kaitou-sama!" Gokudera remarked, fawning a little.

"It would have been better if he hadn't messed up," Reborn said, far less impressed. "But I guess that's all you can expect from an amateur."

"Sorry for being amateur," Tsuna muttered resentfully under his breath.

"Don't be sorry, get better," Reborn ordered. The "or else" was heavily implied. Looking over the array of odds and ends Tsuna had pilfered while at CEDEF headquarters, he picked out the pill case and thoughtfully turned it over in his hand. "Why didn't you bother stealing all this? Do you even know what it's for?"

Tsuna shrugged. "Habit, I guess," he admitted. "I used to practice my sleight of hand by pickpocketing pretty much everyone in reach, and it just got to be such an ingrained habit that I do it without thinking. Like that," he nodded at the pill case, "I got off the CEDEF agent who was chasing me at the end, but I'm not even sure at which point."

"As expected of an amateur," Reborn commented dryly, tossing the pill case back in the pile of loot.

"Sorry for being an amateur," Tsuna muttered.

"Don't be sorry, get better," Reborn ordered.

'Wait, didn't we already have this conversation?!'

"It bears repeating. It's normally against my policy to associate with someone so low-ranking," Reborn added, "so hurry up and become worthy of being in my presence."

Tsuna glared, indignation and annoyance having won over his earlier fear. To his surprise, so did Gokudera. "Kaitou-sama is not low class!" Tsuna's self-proclaimed follower insisted, though he managed to keep his protests dynamite-free out of respect for Reborn. "He successfully broke into the CEDEF and stole the Vongola Sky Ring! An amateur couldn't accomplish that!"

"He's an amateur because he messed it up," Reborn replied coolly. "He was supposed to get all seven rings, but lost six of them. That in itself would be acceptable, though still amateur work, but he also made a much worse mistake."

That accusation drew Tsuna out of his internal grumbling.

"What? What mistake?" he demanded, turning to Reborn. It wasn't just a matter of pride - a mistake could lead to the Varia or another criminal group being able to track him down. This job was a matter of life and death.

"You weren't supposed to use the ring," Reborn said, pulling his fedora down a little. "It's a problem."

"U-use…? The Vongola Sky Ring?" Gokudera stammered, his eyes growing impossibly wide. Tsuna glanced at him with burgeoning concern and unease.

"What does it matter?" Tsuna said, barely stopping his voice from trembling in the suddenly-tense atmosphere. "So I'm a Sky Flame user. That doesn't have anything to do with the job."

"You really don't understand what it means," Reborn said as Gokudera continued to stare at Tsuna in shock. "The Vongola Sky Ring isn't something that can be just used by anyone with Sky Flames. Being accepted by the Sky Ring is a requirement for becoming the Boss, one that many candidates have failed in the past. It is also the third way of becoming a potential Successor, together with being nominated by the current Boss or the Outside Advisor."

"...Wait," Tsuna said. "Wait. That's… that's what Xanxus wants to do, right? Because he hasn't been named Nono's successor."

"Right," Reborn said. "And also, what you've done."

Tsuna shook his head slowly. He must have misheard.

"No, you heard that right," Reborn said, smiling sardonically. "Congratulations on becoming a candidate for Vongola Decimo."

~.~.~

**Chapter 4: Sleight of hand ~ Mythical Perfect Ranking**

~.~.~

"No," Tsuna said flatly.

"Then, Kaitou-sama is… J-Juudaime?" Gokudera tried. "Juudaime... Juudaime!" He seemed to like the sound of it.

"No," Tsuna repeated more firmly. "Absolutely not!"

"It's not up to you," Reborn told him. "And you're far from the only one not happy to hear it."

"It's not like I wanted it to react to me! I wasn't even trying to use it!" Tsuna yelled in frustration. The ring grew warmer in his clenched fist, not helping his case at all.

'That just makes it worse,' Reborn thought. 'I haven't even mentioned the fact that it usually requires an entire ceremony for the Boss to become able to activate it...' He decided not to mention that at all.

Instead, Reborn said bluntly, "No one cares. You're a potential Successor now. The only one, actually, since Xanxus hasn't been acknowledged. Every criminal group that ever even dreamed of taking Vongola down will be gunning for you. This is their big chance. Everyone knows Nono is old. Not only will they be able to take out Vongola's only Successor, but they'll even get the ring too. Needless to say, it's my job to stop that from happening."

Dropping his head in his hands, Tsuna groaned pitifully.

"And that's not even getting to the Varia," Reborn continued mercilessly. "They can't just take the Sky Ring now. You're a competitor. To prove himself the best suited, Xanxus will have to defeat you. That's the only way for another candidate to assert their claim. And Xanxus won't settle for anything except your death."

"It's alright, Kaitou-sama - no, Juudaime," Gokudera tried to comfort him as Tsuna curled into a ball and attempted to will himself out of existence. "I know you'll make a great Boss! The Sky Ring acknowledged your worth! Anyone who opposes you will stand no chance! I'll protect you!"

"Don't call me that!" Tsuna moaned.

"Yes, hold off on that until he actually completes the Inheritance Ceremony," Reborn agreed. 'Not that he ever will, if Nono has his way...'

"I'm sure Kaitou-sama will be able to do it," Gokudera said confidently.

"I don't even want to complete it!" Tsuna's protests went ignored.

"I'll support you all the way, Kaitou-sama," Gokudera continued. Alarmingly, he seemed to blush. "I-I would be honored to become part of your Family, if you would have me."

Tsuna opened his mouth to refuse - he didn't have a Family and didn't plan on forming one - but he caught sight of Reborn looking at Gokudera with a strangely considering gaze. He might not have been able to read minds like the world's greatest hitman, but Tsuna's intuition was sharp enough for him to guess that Gokudera's offer was more significant than it might appear at first.

"Um," Tsuna said, rubbing his forehead, "if I make a Family, you can be the first member, okay?"

"Juudaime!"

"Don't call me that!"

"Inspiring such deep loyalty is a good trait for a boss," Reborn commented. Somehow, it didn't really sound like a compliment, or a good thing.

Probably because Tsuna didn't really want to be a boss, and no one else - except Gokudera - wanted that either.

Or maybe...

Tsuna met Reborn's eyes, a terrible thought suddenly occurring to him.

"That's right. You're beginning to see why it's such a problem," Reborn said. "There are people within Vongola who would insist that you're the rightful Successor, whether you like it or not. They'd be a small group… but large enough to fracture the Family. Combined with those that will break off to follow Xanxus, the Vongola will fall apart."

That was the very thing Tsuna had taken this job to avoid.

"I'm going to give it back!" Tsuna insisted. "I'm not going to keep it! That's the deal. I'll give the ring back to the Ninth after his plan is ready. He has his own candidate, right? He told me so. I just need to give the ring to that candidate, and once he's accepted too, it'll be fine, right?"

Reborn remained silent. It wouldn't be that easy, that much was certain. He didn't actually expect Tsuna to come up with a solution - even Nono had only been able to hope that the current Vongola Boss's influence and clout, backed by the Outside Advisor, would be enough to keep the Family from falling apart - but he wanted to see what the Phantom Thief would do.

What kind of man was he, to be chosen by the Sky Ring?

"If it's a matter of dueling it out or whatever, I'll lose," Tsuna continued in the long, uncomfortable silence. "If it's a matter of formally renouncing my claim, I'll do that. If it's about disappearing, that's fine too."

"Kaitou-sama!" Gokudera protested.

Tsuna shook his head. "I don't want to be a mafia boss. I don't care if others see me as just a thief. I like the way I've been living and the way I've been doing things," he said, meeting Gokudera's gaze evenly.

He didn't just mean the freedom of being the Phantom Thief or the stealing. He meant all of it - living as he pleased, helping those he felt compelled to help, both in the crazy heists he pulled and the secret jobs he accepted. That was how he measured pride, and not through battle or power or even making a name for himself.

That was how he and Gokudera met, not because he came to steal from his family, but because he acted out of his own compassion.

Something of that thought seemed to reach Gokudera. Reluctantly, he nodded, conceding the point. It was, after all, the Phantom Thief he had chosen to believe in, with the Phantom Thief's different way of living.

Turning back to Reborn, Tsuna said. "I accepted this job because I want to prevent the bloodshed that would follow if the Vongola Family collapses. I don't mind throwing a match for the sake of preserving the Vongola Family. And if it's the Ninth's candidate, then he won't k-kill me..." His steady look cracked a little.

Reborn sighed quietly. "That won't be enough. It won't erase the fact that the ring accepted you," he said. He wondered if there was any point in trying to explain, again, that the Sky Ring rarely reacted the way it had with him. "It'll still be seen as a contest between the two of you," he settled on saying.

"Then we have to find some way to make sure the Ninth's candidate comes out on top," Tsuna said firmly, his resolve seemingly only getting stronger despite Reborn's negative responses. "There must be something. Something that everyone in the mafia world would accept without question or doubt. What would it be?"

He looked to the other two, his eyes narrowed and gleaming faintly with the light of Sky Flames, as he asked for their expertise. Gokudera reflexively straightened, almost coming to attention, but Reborn only frowned faintly.

"If… if it's something every mafioso would accept as one hundred percent true," Gokudera ventured, his brow furrowed in thought, "then the only thing I can think of is… the Ranking Prince."

Gokudera fidgeted a little as both Tsuna and Reborn regarded him thoughtfully. "His rankings are one hundred percent accurate," Reborn agreed finally, "but I doubt it'll be so simple."

"It's worth a shot," Tsuna decided. "Let's get going. You can tell me more along the way."

"Getting into the spirit of being a Boss?" Reborn mocked, earning himself a glare from Tsuna. He continued to smirk, but his thoughts were far less lighthearted. 'A little too into it,' Reborn mused. 'The biggest obstacle might be… that he's definitely got the potential for it.'

He had wanted to see what kind of person the Phantom Thief was, and he wasn't pleased with what he saw. Or maybe, he was too pleased by far, in all the most inconvenient ways.

~.~.~

Fuuta de la Stella, Gokudera explained, was like a national treasure to the mafia. His rankings were always 100 percent accurate, and his Ranking Book was practically the Holy Grail of the criminal world.

However, his rankings didn't belong to any one family.

Instead, the Ranking Prince was a neutral party whose unbiased information was used to resolve disputes. He lived at an isolated, heavily guarded location under the watchful eye of not only the Vongola alliance, but also all other major groups in criminal society.

"So if his rankings show that someone is the best candidate for Vongola Decimo, no one will be able to doubt that fact," Gokudera concluded.

"Sounds good," Tsuna nodded. "If we're lucky, he'll say that Nono's chosen successor is the best bet, and no one'll bother with me anymore." He supposed if they were really, really lucky, that would also take Xanxus out of the running, but Tsuna doubted that Xanxus himself would accept being sidelined so easily.

"There are limits to Fuuta's ability," Reborn objected. "He can only create rankings for people he's seen, I believe. Not to mention that you can't exactly request an audience from him just like that. A single request can take months or years to be processed, and most are rejected. Something as… divisive as Vongola succession will never be allowed to be ranked. There are too many parties that would prefer that the answer remain unknown."

'I guess that explains why no one used this option in the first place,' Tsuna thought with a sigh.

Reborn nodded. "It's too convenient. Real life is never that simple," he said.

Realizing his mind had been read yet again, Tsuna shot him a glare. "Anyway," he said, "leave getting to Fuuta to me. You don't have to come. I doubt we'll run into the Varia in there."

"I'm a professional," Reborn said. "I take my jobs seriously. I don't allow even the smallest mistakes to slip through." 'Unlike you,' his tone implied.

'Enough with the amateur comments!' Tsuna thought in frustration, but before he could retort, the door of the train car opened, and a stewardess entered, pushing along a trolley of snacks and lunch boxes.

On cue, Tsuna's stomach growled miserably.

"Anything off the cart?" the stewardess asked, smiling at the three of them - the only passengers in the car.

"I'll get it," Gokudera volunteered. "We'll take three of those, and two of those…"

As the stewardess handed out their orders, Tsuna reached across Reborn, who had taken the aisle seat, to accept his. A quiet, ominous click made him freeze in place, along with a faint nudge against his ribcage.

"You're about three hundred million years too early to be trying that on me," Reborn commented, his tone completely casual, so as not to arouse suspicion - the gun he had drawn on Tsuna was also hidden from the stewardess.

Tsuna laughed uncomfortably, drawing his hand back from where it had been about to reach from Reborn's pocket. "Sorry," he said. "It's a reflex. I really didn't mean to."

"That's the fourth time," Reborn said dryly. Fortunately, he appeared more amused than anything. His gun seemed to magically disappear as Tsuna cautiously drew back to his own seat. Instead, the green form of his chameleon partner Leon crawled up Reborn's sleeve to settle on his shoulder. "Also," Reborn added, "you might want to give Gokudera back his wallet, if you expect him to pay."

Gokudera, who had been in the process of searching for just that item, looked up in surprise. "As expected of Kaitou-sama," he muttered, graciously accepting the wallet that Tsuna held out sheepishly.

Checking his pockets, Tsuna also held out Gokudera's lighter and two of his bracelets.

When Tsuna turned back, his lunch was gone.

Or rather, it had somehow ended up in Reborn's lap, the hitman already taking a bite. "Hey! That's mine!" Tsuna protested, but Reborn only shrugged. "Come on, give it back! You already ate my breakfast!"

"Then take it back yourself," Reborn told him mercilessly. It was, naturally, an impossible demand.

Tsuna's stomach growled again, but the stewardess had already moved on, and Tsuna looked after her mournfully. He glanced up in surprise as another lunch was proffered before him.

"Here, Kaitou-sama," Gokudera said. "You can have mine. Since… since I'm not going to be the one working, I don't need it." He sighed a little, having no choice but to accept that he would be inevitably left behind. His stealth skills were simply nowhere near high enough for the upcoming mission.

Tsuna shook his head. "We'll split it," he decided. When Gokudera tried to protest, Tsuna insisted, "I need your help too. You're really good at figuring out things like layout and security measures and where to look for traps. The reports you give me before each of my heists are always very helpful."

Gokudera's blush was entirely obvious this time. "I hadn't thought you listened that closely, Kaitou-sama," he mumbled, obediently taking a bite.

"I do," Tsuna assured him. "You're always spot-on about where the lasers go. And your mafia connections can be pretty helpful too. So, do you know anything about where Fuuta is staying?"

He hid a grimace at the taste of Gokudera's chosen lunch. It wasn't something he would have chosen for himself, but he wasn't about to complain. Tsuna was afraid that if he said something, Gokudera would start to always just buy two of whatever Tsuna wanted - a waste and not right at all.

Instead, Tsuna shot Reborn another glare. The hitman didn't even look like he was enjoying his stolen lunch either. He was definitely chewing a little harder than strictly necessary.

"The way I heard it," Gokudera began, between mouthfuls, "the Ranking Prince has been sequestered at the estate of a mafia family that died out. It's out in the middle of nowhere and is always guarded by representatives of all the major groups who agreed to protect the Ranking Prince's impartiality. Each group handles a different part of the security measures."

He chewed thoughtfully, his eyes taking on a faraway look as he thought back on all the rumors he had heard over the years and what he had been able to gather that morning before they boarded the train.

"I heard Vongola handles the outer perimeter," Gokudera said slowly. "Bovino provides the internal sensors. Difo and Beccio have patrols of the main grounds. Nuevo has upper level look out. Trad-6 has been petitioning to have a bigger role…"

The list was long, even without being exhaustive, and Gokudera could only shrug at the end, uncertain of how accurate the information was. Tsuna glanced at Reborn for confirmation, but the hitman only looked back with a falsely innocent expression.

'Of course,' Tsuna thought irritably, 'it's too much to expect any real help from him.'

"I'm just here to protect the Sky Ring," Reborn agreed. "You shouldn't rely on me."

Tsuna snorted quietly. "I hadn't been planning to," he said. "You just tagged along on your own. You… freeloader."

"Oh?" Reborn drew out in a terribly smooth way that sent shivers down Tsuna's spine. But he didn't follow up on the implied threat, letting it hang in the air and watching Tsuna squirm for a few moments, before his expression turned serious again. "You should also keep in mind the same will be true if the Varia attack. I can't fight them directly, only get in their way. It's about plausible deniability. I'm acting on Nono's orders, and he can't be seen supporting you openly."

"I've got no intention of fighting the Varia at all," Tsuna said, slouching in his seat. "If I have my way, I'm never going to run into them in the first place. Even if I get spotted at Fuuta's place, it'll be as the Phantom Thief, who has no connection to what happened at CEDEF headquarters. They've got no reason to chase after the Phantom Thief. In fact, they've got no leads at all."

"Don't be so sure they won't make the connection," Reborn said. "You might not have left much of a trail or past, but you're pretty distinctive too. How many thieves with Sky Flames do you think there are?"

"Nobody's ever seen the Phantom Thief use Sky Flames," Tsuna said. He paused, thinking back. "At least, I don't think they have."

"See, this is why you're an amateur," Reborn said, shaking his head in apparent exasperation. "No one might have seen you use Sky Flames, but the signs are all there, and no one's made the connection only because they haven't bothered to look. That, and you've been playing in the kiddie pool so far. Even setting aside all the other stupid stuff you've done, that signature technique of yours is clearly Sky Flame-based and distinctive too."

"T-technique?" Tsuna repeated, looking away quickly.

"You mean what Kaitou-sama uses to take down sensors?" Gokudera said thoughtfully. He had studied it extensively, but he had never quite worked up the courage to ask Tsuna how it worked.

"Yes, that one," Reborn said. "You infuse your Sky Flames into the air around you, which causes it to heat up - plenty of reports mention that. The concentrations of Flames is too low to be visible, but it makes machinery malfunction and humans hallucinate, similar to a mirage. That's only possible with the properties of Sky Flames. The Varia will be able to tell easily."

"...Wow, you figured out Kagerou so easily," Tsuna said, impressed despite himself.

"It's almost ridiculously simple. It's embarrassing to call that trick a technique," Reborn said dismissively.

"It works for me," Tsuna said, now clearly sulking.

Reborn studied him for a moment, his amusement fading into a worryingly calculating look. "Kagerou, huh?" he noted. "And besides that, you got 'Phantom Thief' from _kaitou_... You must be Japanese, right?"

"W-what about it?"

"Your Italian's pretty good."

"Oh?" Tsuna blinked in surprise at the unexpected compliment. "Thanks! I studied it in school, so-"

Realizing he was being baited into revealing personal information, Tsuna quickly fell silent.

As a precaution - or because he was sulking - he refused to speak to Reborn for the rest of the trip.

Well, that was fine, Reborn decided. They would have plenty of time to get to know each other, when Reborn watched him in action. That always revealed the most about a person, in his experience.

~.~.~

Ducking inside the silent manor, the Phantom Thief paused to glance back out at the dark sky. The stars and the moon were quickly becoming hidden by thick clouds rolling in with the chilly autumn wind. He grimaced a little.

"Looks like it's going to rain," Reborn commented, his voice low.

Tsuna just managed not to jump, though he stiffened tellingly. He had lost track of Reborn a while back and hadn't noticed him waiting patiently in the shadows. Whatever else he might have been - annoying, infuriating, occasionally terrifying - Reborn was very, very good.

'No wonder he calls me an amateur,' Tsuna thought, hiding a sigh. 'Compared to him, pretty much everyone is.'

Reborn smirked. "Thanks for the compliment," he whispered. "Even if it's only the truth."

He was still the most frustrating person Tsuna had ever met.

"I thought there would be more guards," Tsuna admitted as they continued forward.

"Why bother? It's a waste of perfectly good members to station them here," Reborn said. "What keeps anyone from attacking and trying to take the Ranking Prince for themselves is fear of retribution, not the actual defenses."

"But what's keeping someone from just sneaking in, getting any ranking they want and sneaking back out?" Tsuna asked. He paused for a moment, then turned down another corridor.

A moment later, a lone guard appeared around the corner further down, ambling along on his regular patrol. Waiting out of sight, Tsuna watched him pass by the place he and Reborn had stood not too long ago. The guard didn't even spare a glance at the fogged up windows that marked the progression of Tsuna's Kagerou technique - it was honestly unnecessary for this level of target, Tsuna realized, dispelling it with a quiet sigh.

"This isn't even hard," Tsuna grumbled under his breath, turning away from the guard and leading the way deeper into the mansion.

Reborn followed after him with a casual stride. "I told you, the Ranking Prince can generally only rank people he's come into contact with. Since he's kept isolated like this, it limits his sphere of influence. There's no guarantee he would be able to create the ranking you want. His limits and capabilities don't follow normal logic," he said. "Also, his ranking ritual isn't exactly subtle."

"Sounds like we'll be making a running retreat afterwards," Tsuna said, doggedly refusing to give Reborn the satisfaction of seeing him falter. So what if this might just be a fool's errand? They had no better leads at the moment, and lots of time to kill. And honestly, many of the Phantom Thief's heists ended with Tsuna having to run from pursuit.

They only had to dodge one more patrol before they reached their target - almost blatantly obvious, a thick, reinforced door guarded by two mafia men in crisp suits. Tsuna had been mentally going through his standard plans in preparation for this stage of the infiltration, but seeing the two guards, both looking bored and half-asleep, he realized he had severely overestimated the level of security involved.

Huffing in annoyance, Tsuna reached into his cloak and pulled out a blank white card, one of several he had made a habit of bringing along.

The guards blinked lazily, one stifling a yawn as he glanced around without much interest. Watching him, Tsuna scowled and, with careful timing, sent flying the paper airplane he had folded.

"Huh?" the guard started a little, blinking. "Hey, wake up. I saw something down the hall."

His partner snorted. "Oh, come on. Not with the ghost hunt again. All the servants already settled in for the night. It's nothing."

Tsuna facepalmed. "I should have sent a notice," he muttered. Somewhere behind him, Reborn snickered.

Digging around in his pockets, Tsuna pulled out a coin he had swiped off some unfortunate guard and, for his next trick, threw it down the corridor. The coin clinked loudly against one of the lamps, bounced, hit large vase, bounced again, and continued to skip down the hall.

The two guards had frozen, and both turned to look dumbly in the direction of the sounds. "...You think that was nothing too?" the first guard hissed at his partner.

"Whatever," the second said irritably. "It's probably a rat."

Tsuna barely managed to choke back a sound of frustration. Reborn's shoulder were shaking with the force of his own amusement.

"It'd be easier and faster to just knock them out," Reborn said finally, laughter clear in his tone. "They'll probably think they just dozed off. Want me to do it for you? I'd like to finish up some time before dawn, you know."

Tsuna shot him a dirty look in reply, but he was honestly considering the offer.

"I'm gonna check it out," the first guard announced loudly. "I'm sick of standing around." He set off down the hall, his partner trailing after him with a few grumbled complaints.

'Finally!' Tsuna thought, drawing back into the shadows to let the two mafia members pass. They didn't even glance in his direction, and Tsuna easily slipped behind their backs toward Fuuta's room. Soundlessly, Reborn followed, still looking entirely too amused.

Running a practiced eye over the locks on the door, Tsuna hesitated. "Need help?" Reborn asked, but Tsuna shook his head. He had already gotten a key card from one of the guards, and the locks beeped agreeably as he swiped it through.

The door swung open smoothly, and Tsuna gestured Reborn through first - which the hitman accepted with a knowing smile - then followed him in, easing the door shut. As he had expected, the locks clicked back in place, and there was no key card terminal on the inside.

Catching Reborn's gaze as he looked up, Tsuna shrugged. "Looks like we're going out through the window," he muttered.

Tsuna had expected the Ranking Prince to be asleep already, given the late hour. He had also been confident enough in his own skills to assume that the boy wouldn't be awoken by his and Reborn's arrival.

So turning to find a pair of wide brown eyes watching him curiously, Tsuna reacted predictably - jumping back in shock with a muffled shriek and crashing against the door.

"Hi," Fuuta said, beaming at Tsuna, as if it was completely normal for masked men to drop by his room unannounced in the middle of the night. "Are you here for a ranking?"

"Y-yes?" Tsuna ventured, his heart still pounding.

It was, of course, completely ridiculous to get scared by Fuuta. He looked barely old enough to be in middle school and the very image of cute and harmless besides. Even in his pajamas, he still had a striped scarf wrapped around his neck.

"Okay! What do you want to know?" Fuuta beamed. Pulling his massive book a little closer, he took a deep breath. When he opened his eyes, they seemed to reflect a mysterious far-off light.

"Wait, just like that?" Tsuna wondered, even as a strange energy began to fill the room. Books, papers and pens slowly floated upwards, and Tsuna's cape billowed out as his own feet tried to leave the floor. It… wasn't the strangest thing that had ever happened to him.

"Sure," Fuuta said, his voice now distant. "I love ranking things. I like helping people too. You must really want to know something, if you came all this way to see me. Hm… I see. You're ranked number one least able to refuse a request. And Mr. Reborn is the number one hitman in the world…"

Reborn shot Tsuna a look and smirked at his own ranking, carefully keeping hold of his hat with one hand and Leon with the other.

"And how am I in the ranking of best thieves?" Tsuna asked instead. "I'm the Phantom Thief, you know."

"I know," Fuuta said, smiling a little. "I know who you are. I can tell. You're the best phantom thief. You're also the number one most underestimated. And… you're the most wanted individual in the mafia world at this time."

That pronouncement sent a cold shiver down Tsuna's spine. When Fuuta's power suddenly cut off and gravity returned to the room, he couldn't quite catch himself and faceplanted straight into the carpet.

"I got so many new rankings," Fuuta said, opening his book. "I've got to write them down or I'll forget…"

Tsuna groaned and sat up, rubbing at his nose. As Fuuta scribbled away, Tsuna found himself leaning in with interest. It took him a moment to make out the upside down writing. Then, he panicked.

"Hiiieee!" Tsuna flailed, spinning around and trying to bodily block Reborn's view of the book - somewhat pointless, given the hitman couldn't see the writing anyway.

"What now?" Reborn wondered, before realizing what the problem was. "He's using your real name, isn't he? Don't worry, I won't peek," he said with mocking sincerity. "That would be too easy. I don't need that kind of hint." However, Tsuna continued to watch him distrustfully.

"There, all done," Fuuta announced. "Now, what ranking did you come for, Mr. Phantom Thief?" He met Tsuna's relieved look with a smile.

"I want to know who would be the best person to become Vongola Decimo," Tsuna said. "Can you rank that?"

"Um…" Fuuta thought for a moment, tilting his head as he tried to reach out further. "Not directly. I can't rank people who aren't here. I can rank your position as a potential successor, but only yours," he judged.

Tsuna slumped, and Reborn sighed almost soundlessly. He at least had the decency not to say, "I told you so."

"Sorry," Fuuta offered.

"It's okay," Tsuna muttered.

"But I could give you a copy of the ranking I made for Grandpa Ninth when he was here," Fuuta continued. "It's bit outdated, but it's probably still mostly right."

Tsuna looked up at him blankly. "...What?"

"Grandpa Ninth came to visit me a little while ago," Fuuta explained, leafing through his book. "He's really nice, you know? He didn't even want anything. He just came to see me. So I wanted to do something nice for him too. He seemed really tired… So I made a ranking of the people best suited to succeed him as the Vongola Boss."

"You gave him something like that?" Reborn muttered. "He didn't mention it…"

"That's perfect! Do you still have it?" Tsuna exclaimed.

Fuuta pouted. "I have a copy," he admitted. "But I don't like to give outdated rankings."

"Come on, please!" Tsuna begged, clapping his hands together in prayer. "I'll do something good for you in return! There's got to be something you want, right?"

"W-well…" Fuuta glanced away. A hesitant look crossed his face. "Could you… come back to see me again?"

"...Sure," Tsuna agreed, something uneasy prickling up his spine. "But, you know, you could ask for something else too. I'm least able to refuse a request, right?"

Fuuta shook his head, reluctantly. "It's okay," he said. "You go to lots of place and do lots of things. So I'll get to do lots of new rankings just by meeting you."

"You really love ranking things, huh?" Tsuna mused. He smiled awkwardly. "I bet you could rank a lot more things if you came with me, got out of this stupid mansion for a while. It wouldn't be hard. I'm the best phantom thief, after all. I could steal you away for a while and…"

He trailed off as Fuuta shook his head.

"That would be a very bad idea," Reborn said flatly. "Every criminal organization would accuse everyone else of trying to take his rankings for themselves. Fighting would break out in no time. And if you announced that you were the one who did it, you'd be targeted instead. You're already the most wanted man in the criminal underworld. Can you really handle any more heat?"

Tsuna winced, and so did Fuuta, who seemed to curl in on himself under Reborn's blunt assessment.

"...Ranking is a heavy burden, huh?" Tsuna said quietly, curling one hand around the grating.

Fuuta shook his head. "No, I don't think so at all. I love ranking things. I love being able to hear the Ranking Star. I wouldn't give that up for anything. I just wish that… everyone else wouldn't always fight over my rankings. …But it's okay," he said. Tearing a page out of his book, he held it out to Tsuna with a tentative smile. "I'll look forward to seeing you again, Mr. Phantom Thief. Do lots of interesting things until then, okay?"

Tsuna accepted the ranking, but he couldn't bring himself to even glance at it.

"Y-yeah. I'll come to see you soon, okay?" Tsuna finally said. His shoulders slumped and he seemed to huddle deeper under his cloak in defeat. "I'll bring you a souvenir!" The smile he gave Fuuta was strained, and the forced tone of happiness in his voice rang almost painfully false.

Turning away, Tsuna hurriedly stepped up to the window. The curtains billowed as he pulled it open and a cold, wet wind swept into the room. Beyond the class, thick metal bars were firmly locked in place.

Tsuna slid his hands over the lock that held the bars in place. Like on the door, it was on the outside. It clicked open in moments under the Phantom Thief's skilled fingers.

Still, Tsuna hesitated. Behind him, Fuuta looked at the open window with longing, even as he shivered in the cold wind.

"Come on, the rain's going to start any moment," Reborn said, striding toward Tsuna. "I hate getting wet."

"I hate rain," Tsuna muttered. "Nothing ever works right in the rain."

"Yeah," Fuuta agreed, turning away from the window. His grip on his book tightened. "It always messes up my rankings."

"Messes up?" Tsuna repeated, straightening in surprise. Something about those words completely caught his attention. They were important. There was something there.

Reborn paused. "Oh? I hadn't heard that," he said with apparent disinterest, despite how rare it was for him to not know about something in the mafia world.

"'Cause I never told anyone," Fuuta mumbled. "Rain makes me so tired, and I can't hear the Ranking Star right. It makes my rankings all wonky when it rains. But no one ever comes when it's rainy anyway..." He curled around his book, drooping sleepily.

"Even Reborn didn't know…" Tsuna said quietly, the thoughtful tone of his voice making Reborn turn to look at him with narrowed eyes. "They're only one hundred percent accurate when it's sunny. Fuuta's rankings aren't always right… But the reason I came to get a ranking was because everyone always believes them, because they're never wrong..."

He trailed off, mumbling, as his thoughts seemed to go in circles. Tsuna could feel Reborn watching him, but he paid the hitman no mind. He needed to grasp the form of the thought that seemed to slip just out of his reach. That was the answer he needed.

Tsuna spun around, striding away from the open window. A gust of cold wind made his cloak billow around him as he approached Fuuta and knelt in front of the boy.

"Fuuta," Tsuna said, "you love ranking more than anything, don't you? But now your rankings are more than just something you do because you want to. Everyone has come to rely on them… Fuuta, what would you do if no one believed in your rankings anymore?"

Fuuta's eyes widened as he stared up at the Phantom Thief. "If no one… believed in my rankings?" he repeated, clutching his book closer. He bit his lip and looked away. "I would… I would go on ranking things," Fuuta decided finally. "The transmissions from the Ranking Star won't stop, even if no one believes them. And… I think that if people were able to choose whether to believe my rankings... that might be better too..."

A smile bloomed across Tsuna's face. Reaching out, he ruffled Fuuta's hair. As the boy watched him in confusion, Tsuna picked up his discarded pen and pulled out another blank card. "Reborn, you better go on ahead," Tsuna said distractedly. "I'm going to be waiting for the rain."

With a flourish, he finished writing the Phantom Thief's newest heist notice.

Reborn's eyes narrowed as he quickly scanned the words. "Have you forgotten what you came here for?" he asked. "Getting emotionally attached like this on a job, it's why you're an amateur."

Tsuna shrugged, standing. "No," he said, "I remember. But this is how I do things, even if that makes me just a fool."

Standing on his toes, Fuuta peered at the card. He mouthed the words out, his eyes growing impossibly wide.

Meeting Tsuna's gaze, Fuuta shook his head frantically. "You can't!" he exclaimed. "It's not possible! And… I tried running away before." Swallowing heavily, Fuuta looked away. "It… it didn't work. I was always chased. Everyone who tried to help me just got hurt. That's why… it's better like this. It's safer for everyone if I…"

He trailed off as Tsuna ruffled his hair again, his hand firm and almost rough. "I'll do it!" he said. "Your rankings are still one hundred percent accurate! I'm the greatest phantom thief, remember? That's why I'll steal away your 'perfect rankings' tonight!"

Without waiting for a reply, Tsuna grabbed Fuuta and threw him over one shoulder. "Wait, my Ranking Book!" Fuuta tried to call out as Tsuna stepped up on the sill of the open window.

"It's fine," the Phantom Thief said. "You can come back for it. After this, no one'll try to steal it anymore. ...Probably."

The curtains fluttered again, and he was gone.

Reborn snorted, casually making his own way to the window. His partner Leon slithered into his hand, transforming into a green umbrella. Reborn tapped it against his shoulder absently.

"He really is a fool," he said, as if to himself. "But then, it was a fool just like him that founded Vongola."

Somehow, the thought didn't make him happy. If anything, it was terribly inconvenient.

~.~.~

Standing atop the roof of the Ranking Prince's mansion, the Phantom Thief looked up at the thick clouds that covered the sky. The first cold raindrop hit his cheek, another making a dark spot on the roof nearby, followed by more and more drops.

Sliding Fuuta off his shoulder, Tsuna set him back on his feet and carefully draped his cloak over the boy to shield him from the rain. Fuuta swayed alarmingly, forcing Tsuna to hold him up by his collar.

"Hang in there," Tsuna muttered. "I know you don't like it, and it's gonna be tough, but I need your help to make this work."

The roof of the manor was covered with an array of surprisingly sophisticated sensors, just like the rest of the grounds and the building. Tsuna had avoided them easily up to that point, but the time for sneaking around was over. The Phantom Thief tapped his foot almost thoughtfully against a roof tile, then stomped down with enough force to crush it.

Wailing alarms burst to life across the mansion, startling complacent guards into action. Shouting questions and orders at each other, they swarmed out onto the manor grounds, but just like before, their response was frustratingly slow. The strong winds and the sparse but increasing rain only added to the confusion, and the flood lights that clicked on across the estate barely began to penetrate the darkness.

Sighing, the Phantom Thief toed another roof tile out of place and kicked it over the edge. It sailed through the air almost gracefully, before colliding with the head of one particularly unfortunate guard.

"What was that?!"

"It came from up there!"

"Look! It's the intruder!"

Taking a deep breath, the Phantom Thief projected his voice to be heard despite the gusts of wind that continued to tug at his cloak.

"Members of the mafia alliance!" he announced. "I apologize for the late notice! I, the Phantom Thief, have come to take the mythical perfect ranking ability of Fuuta de la Stella!"

Sweeping aside the folds of his cloak, Tsuna revealed Fuuta's slumped, lethargic figure. Down below, the guards squinted up against the blinding flood lights and the thickening pelting rain.

"Is that… the Ranking Prince?" one guard asked another.

"No way…" his partner muttered. Holding up a radio, he barked, "Hey, check on the brat! Is he in his room?"

The radio crackled, and a shocked voice came through. "He's gone! The window… they went through the window!"

The Phantom Thief smirked, having waited patiently for them to draw their own conclusions. "That's right!" he declared, gesturing dramatically. "In truth, my heist has already succeeded! His ranking ability no longer works!"

"That's impossible!" someone yelled. "There's no way you could take that!"

That was the cue the Phantom Thief had been waiting for. "You're too naive! We will show you!" he said, placing his hands on Fuuta's shoulders. Fuuta leaned back into him, his eyes drooping sleepily as he looked up at Tsuna. "So tell me," the Phantom Thief said, his voice still carrying down to the courtyard and guards below, in the sudden silence, "what is the color of the sky?"

Fuuta pouted, shivering miserably despite Tsuna's efforts to shield him from the slow, cold rain.

"I know, I know, but we'll be done soon," Tsuna whispered. "Work with me here!"

This time, Tsuna could feel Fuuta's strange power gathering in the cold air. The wind turned suddenly, as if colliding with an invisible wall. The fat raindrops were caught in the confusing swirls, before they were caught in Fuuta's power and simply hovered in mid air.

Making a face, Fuuta tried to concentrate further. "...Connecting…" he mumbled. "I can barely hear you, Ranking Star…"

The Ranking Star's field had reached the courtyard and the guards below, who stood frozen in shock.

Fuuta had been right - no one ever asked him to rank in the rain. No one bothered coming all the way to see him in foul weather. Why go to all that trouble, when they could just wait? It wasn't like the Ranking Prince would go anywhere. And Fuuta had not trusted anyone enough to tell them, not for a very long time.

So the mafia members, gathered from the many, many families who had wanted Fuuta's power carefully controlled, had no idea the true cause of his difficulties.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry," Tsuna chanted quietly, gently squeezing Fuuta's shoulders.

"The number one color of the sky is…" Futuna announced, "...Sherbert Lemon."

There was a moment of profound silence, as the guards below tried to reconcile what they thought they had heard. It couldn't possibly be true. They must have been mistaken, surely.

The Phantom Thief began to laugh.

"Then, what is my name?" he asked boldly.

The raindrops, which had hovered in place, began to fall in reverse, back toward the clouds, as Fuuta tilted his head straining to hear some far off echo. "Most likely true identity of the Phantom Thief - Carlo of the Beccio family," he decided.

There was a squawk from the courtyard. The guards drew back in a circle around one of their number - the unfortunate Carlo of the Beccio Family, who pointed to himself in shock.

The Phantom Thief laughed louder.

"Do you understand?" he called out. "There isn't a single thing I can't steal! Even the Ranking Prince's perfect record!"

The guards broke out in startled whispers, which quickly grew into confused shouts. Was it possible? Had he really done it? The Ranking Prince, who had predicted everything perfectly until then, had made a mistake. But there was no doubt that his ranking power was in use, not with the raindrops still hanging in the air like glitter.

The Phantom Thief's laughter was finally drowned out, as gravity finally resumed and the rain all came crashing down with a roar, drenching everything.

When the air cleared once more, the two figures were gone from the roof. But absorbed in their own debates, some of them hurrying to report to their own families for guidance, the guards didn't even seem to notice.

~.~.~

Fuuta's room stood empty as Tsuna ducked in through the open window. The thick door had need left open, but there were no guards in the corridor beyond. The Ranking Book lay where they had left it.

"Come on, let's get you dried off and into bed," Tsuna said, setting Fuuta down on the covers. Carrying a teenager around, even a young one, was a bit of a strain for him. He wasn't built for heavy labor.

"I didn't really get wet," Fuuta said, wiggling under the blankets. "You covered for me really well. It's fine like this."

"You're gonna catch a cold," Tsuna scolded, but he still fussily tucked the covers around Fuuta all the same.

"I'll be okay," Fuuta told him with a smile. "You don't have to worry about me. I'll be just fine. I'm pretty tough, Kaitou-nii." He didn't just mean that night. Yawning, Fuuta added, "They'll spend tonight figuring out what to do, probably all day tomorrow too. But after that, they'll let me go. Or maybe I'll sneak out... I'm gonna see so many places, rank so many things…"

He trailed off, finally falling asleep. Tsuna sat by his bedside for a few moments longer. Reborn had been right - he couldn't look after Fuuta. He was already wildly wanted, and it would only get worse after this stunt. But Tsuna was sure Fuuta would be okay. He really was strong, in his own way.

And sometimes, kids had to find their own way. Tsuna had, though admittedly he'd been a little older when he first left Namimori for Italy, to find the truth...

The guards had long since abandoned their patrols, so getting out was no challenge. Making his way out of the patrol range, Tsuna finally allowed himself to release the sneeze he had been holding in. It came out like a gunshot that made his entire body shake, followed by three more.

How had this night turned into such a mess? His cloak was soaked all the way through, and his hat was dripping water down his collar.

"Took you long enough," Reborn said acidly, stepping out of the shadows.

"Hiiieee!" Tsuna shrieked, jumping badly in shock. Staring wide eyed at the hitman, he had to wonder how he had managed to miss someone holding a bright green umbrella.

As if reading his thoughts, Reborn snorted. 'Amateur,' he seemed to say, again.

Tsuna laughed awkwardly. "Sorry, I guess this was a wild goose chase after all," he said. Pulling out the ranking Fuuta had given him, he looked down at it ruefully. "Now that Fuuta's rankings are no longer absolute, this won't hold much weight."

'Although...' He frowned thoughtfully. 'It could still be a place to start. After all, this is what the Ninth based his choice of successor on.'

Tsuna flipped the paper open. At the top was Fuuta's crest, followed by a list.

The first name was...

...Sawada Tsunayoshi.

Even Reborn couldn't help staring in surprise as Tsuna suddenly let out frustrated yell and began to rip the ranking into pieces.

~.~.~

**Notes**

Q: What's up with Reborn's characterisation?  
A: I have no idea. Seriously, guys, I have no idea how to even begin writing Reborn. ...Actually, that's true for all the characters.

Q: Kagerou?  
A: The word has two meanings: "heat haze" and also "mayfly." I'm… not entirely sure that's how Flames work, ever, but it's basically to explain Tsuna's mad kaitou skillz. Also, he doesn't have a weapon capable of channeling Flames, so there is that. Reborn didn't mention it, but Tsuna also has some degree of control over the air infused with his Flames. Not a lot though.

Q: ….But that's not how Flames work…  
A: …. Next question!

Q: Pairings?  
A: No.

Q: But… pairings?  
A: I've never written romance and I don't think I'm capable of it. I suppose you can say we'll go the canon route of a K27 crush that goes nowhere in particular and hints of All27 everywhere.

This chapter... This chapter would not end! I was ready to kill myself by the time I finished. Ergh...

Happy Holidays, everyone!

~.~.~

_Next time: Lambo Bovino._

~.~.~


	5. Target

~.~.~

**Phantom Thief Decimo**

_Previously: Tsuna's use of the Vongola Sky Ring marked him as a potential Successor to Vongola IX. To assure that he would not become drawn into the succession crisis, Tsuna sought to have Fuuta de la Stella, the Ranking Prince, create a list of best possible candidates instead. However, Tsuna's kindness led him to undermine his own goals by seemingly proving that Fuuta's rankings cannot be considered 100 percent accurate, thus rendering them useless for his purposes._

~.~.~

"...So it was a dead end," Gokudera said. Tsuna could only groan in response, burying his head in his arms and banging it lightly against the table. He was forced to stop when his sunglasses creaked ominously.

Despite Gokudera's best efforts to stall Reborn the next morning, the hitman had kicked Tsuna out of bed well before his preferred afternoon wake up time. Despite having been up just as long as Tsuna, Reborn didn't seem affected at all.

'Is he really human?' Tsuna wondered. 'He must be some kind of monster or a demon...'

Reborn tilted his fedora down, shadowing his expression.

"It wouldn't be a dead end if hadn't been for the Phantom Thief," he said.

"That's the way Kaitou-sama is," Gokudera said, staunchly defending his idol. His tone was almost wistful. "That's the way of a phantom thief - to live freely, by one's own code of justice." It went against his sensibilities as someone born and raised in the mafia, but he had come to admire it while following the Phantom Thief's exploits.

It was, to Gokudera, an inextricable part of Tsuna, what allowed them to meet and what first inspired Gokudera to follow him.

"Sorry," Tsuna muttered, though he wasn't really that sorry at all.

"But can't we still use the ranking, at least as a starting point?" Gokudera wondered, providing himself smart and logical exactly when it would be most inconvenient for Tsuna. "After all, maybe the Ranking Prince's information won't carry the same weight, but we know that it's actually true. We can find the top candidate and coordinate with them. So, who's the best Successor for Vongola?"

"I would also be very interested to know," Reborn said silkily. "Except that the esteemed Phantom Thief suddenly ripped up the ranking before I could even catch a glimpse."

'Judging by the way he only glanced at the list and froze for an instance,' Reborn thought, 'it was the first name he recognized, maybe the second at most. Who was it? And why did the Phantom Thief recognize them? It couldn't have been Xanxus. That wouldn't make any sense. And… if it was the same person Nono has chosen as his Successor, then what does that reaction mean?'

He needed to talk to Nono, Reborn decided. There was definitely something more going on that he didn't know about. He didn't like the feeling of being out of loop. As the hitman's already unhappy mood worsened, the air temperature around their table seemed to drop.

A cold shiver went down Tsuna's spine, making him cover his head a little more tightly. Maybe if he didn't look up, the danger would just pass.

Tsuna didn't actually think that Reborn would attack him just then. They had gone to a small cafe to get Reborn's espresso, and though they were the only ones sitting at the outside tables, given that it was already November, it was still a public place where anyone could pass by at any moment.

Even Reborn wouldn't just shoot out in the street like that, in broad daylight. Right?

'No one's that crazy,' Tsuna thought, trying to assure himself.

So why did he feel a sudden, approaching sense of danger? The crawling, uneasy feeling was enough to make Tsuna reluctantly lift his head and peer around. Across the table, Reborn sighed soundlessly.

The street had emptied as people sought shelter from the foul weather. Clouds hung heavy across the sky, and the wind was beginning to pick up, whistling through the narrow alleys of the old town.

Tsuna looked up, a flash of color catching his eye. Pink. A pink something was flying through the air.

"Shit! A grenade!" Gokudera cursed, jumping to his feet.

Tsuna was already moving as well, and both of them lunged out of the pink grenade's path. The explosion followed just as they ducked behind the corner of the building.

"It's weak," Gokudera muttered to himself, peeking around the corner at the ruined storefront. Thick smoke from the grenade obscured any sign of the attacker. "For street use?"

"Who's attacking?" Tsuna wondered. "And who are they after?"

"They must be here for you, Kaitou-sama!" Gokudera said. "But how did they find us?"

Reborn, who had followed them seamlessly, without a single hair out of place, sighed again. "No," he said, "it's for me. I'm the target."

Tsuna and Gokudera turned to stare at him with twin looks of absolute shock. Who would dare to even consider challenging the legendary Reborn? Surely, surely there was no one that stupid.

"Come out, Reborn!" a high young boy's voice came from in front of the cafe. "I, the Great Lambo, have come to defeat you at last!"

~.~.~

**Chapter 5: Target ~ Caught Up, Caught Flat-Footed**

~.~.~

"Excuse me for a moment," Reborn said lowly, pulling his fedora down to hide his expression.

Still stupefied, Tsuna and Gokudera could only watch as the hitman stepped out from behind their cover and toward his opponent. There was a triumphant exclamation, and a trio of pink grenades flew toward him. However, Reborn didn't even break stride as he casually batted them away, sending them back where they had come from.

The explosion did little more than make the edges of Reborn's suit flutter, but Tsuna heard someone cry out in shock from among the smoke. He and Gokudera cringed as Reborn disappeared into the dust cloud as well and the unmistakable sounds of someone getting a good beating reached them, intermixed with pained shouts.

A particularly loud wail made them reflexively inch closer to each other.

'What… what kind of monster is Reborn?' they couldn't help but wonder.

As the smoke began to clear, both Gokudera and Tsuna considered closing their eyes or looking away, afraid of the massacre scene they were no doubt about to witness. Unfortunately, pure terror kept them frozen and unable to move even that much.

Reborn's tall, black-clad figure was revealed first. He hadn't even bothered drawing a weapon, now dusting off his hands and sweeping a little soot of his shoulder. At his feet lay the beat down figure of his would-be assailant.

It was a kid - a boy, about elementary school age. He sat up slowly, large tears gathering in his eyes. "Hold… it… in…" he sniffled to himself. A cold glare from Reborn made him cringe, throwing his hands over his head - and his curly black hair, so puffy it looked almost like an afro.

"Get lost, you brat," Reborn told him. "I'm on a job and I don't have time to be dealing with you."

"Shut up, stupid Reborn!" the boy wailed. "The Great Lambo is going to beat you! I won't give up!"

Being either very brave or very stupid, he refused to stay down and lunged for the weapon case lying abandoned nearby. It was a massive thing, taller than Lambo and probably heavier too, but somehow the boy managed to easily lift it up onto his shoulder

'A guitar case?' Tsuna thought, stunned at the strange shape. In a way, it was so cliche, it was downright bizarre.

"A cello case?" Gokudera muttered, being more familiar with classical instruments than Tsuna. However, it had clearly never actually held a cello, as the front section slid open to reveal a missile launcher.

The entire image was beyond absurd - an elementary school kid in a cow-print jumpsuit holding up a giant cello case that launched a rocket propelled grenade at a hitman in an expensive suit.

'And yet, still not the weirdest thing I've seen,' Tsuna realize miserably. Unfortunately, Gokudera was not quite as jaded, despite growing up with a weirdo on par with the scene before him, and could only stare, open mouthed.

Reborn didn't even blink as he kicked the missile straight back into Lambo, the explosion sending the boy and his weapon case flying. When it hit the ground, the case's multiple compartments burst open, revealing grenades, more grenades, mines, a few pistols, a rocket launcher and what looked like a submachine gun.

A little more singed around the edges, but apparently no worse for wear otherwise, Lambo picked himself up again. He sniffled. He mouth trembled. More tears welled up in his eyes.

"Waaah!" Lambo wailed suddenly, rivers of tears streaming down his cheeks as his whole body shook with his sobs. It was an unbelievably pathetic sight.

Naturally, it completely failed to move Reborn.

"What happened to holding it in?" he said, lifting his foot as if to kick Lambo again.

"Reborn!" Tsuna protested without thinking. He whimpered a little as the hitman's glare turned on him instead. "L-look, he's just a kid, and he already lost. Give him a break!"

"This brat has been showing up for years," Reborn said flatly. "No matter how much I pound him, he doesn't give up. It's really starting to piss me off, and beyond that, it's interfering with my work. That's unforgivable."

'He survived you… for years?!' Tsuna thought. Even if Reborn had held back, it was still impressive. Also, impressively stupid. Who could possibly be that stubborn?

"Against Mr. Reborn… for years…?" Gokudera muttered, his thoughts apparently going in the same direction.

"It's... the Boss's... order!" Lambo sobbed. "I'm supposed to… I'm supposed to beat the super first class hitman, Reborn! 'M not gonna give up, ever!"

'W-what kind of order is that?!' Tsuna wondered, horrified. 'Is that kind of joke?'

"What the hell are you saying, you idiot?! What kind of nonsense is that?!" Gokudera demanded. But, to Tsuna's growing horror, he wasn't worried about the boy. Instead, he bypassed Reborn to nail Lambo in the head. "Quit screwing around! You couldn't match Mr. Reborn in a hundred years!"

"A century? You're underestimating me," Reborn said, nodding in agreement.

Lambo wailed louder.

"You're just causing trouble for Mr. Reborn!" Gokudera continued, mercilessly grinding his fist into the top of Lambo's head - though fortunately the boy's thick hair helped protect him. "And for Kaitou-sama too! What if someone notices us because of the mess you made? Get lost!"

"You… you get lost! Quit getting in the way of me and Reborn's battle!" Lambo yelled back. Scrambling away, he snatched up an armful of grenades.

Naturally, Gokudera pulled out his own dynamite, ready to throw.

"Okay, that's enough!" Tsuna declared, stepping between them and holding up his hands. "You!" he pointed to Gokudera. "Put those away right now! Don't make more of a mess out in public like this! And you!" he pointed to Lambo. "Pick your things up! Don't just attack out in the open like this! Didn't your Family teach you that?"

Though Tsuna didn't realize it, he sounded remarkably like his mother at her firmest and most disapproving.

Gokudera scrambled to obey, but Lambo stared up at Tsuna rebelliously, sniffling.

"Come on," Tsuna urged him, kneeling beside the boy and gingerly picking up one of guns that had fallen out of his weapon case. Showing his true nature as a Japanese citizen, he held the pistol like he expected it to bite him at any moment. "We'll be done in no time, and then we can get something to eat, okay?"

They never had managed to get their order from the cafe, and as far as Tsuna was concerned, anyone who got a beating from Reborn deserved something to keep up their morale.

Swallowing back his tears and snot, Lambo nodded and started to gather his numerous grenades.

"Don't promise him food," Reborn complained half-heartedly. "He'll never leave now."

"You're just prissy that a kid like him was able to track you down," Tsuna muttered under his breath.

He was completely correct. His prize was having his arm painfully twisted behind his back, courtesy of Reborn.

"What was that just now?" the hitman asked in a falsely casual tone. "I thought you said something stupid, amateur."

Truthfully, though he hated to admit it, Reborn had never been able to figure out just how Lambo managed to find him with such unerring accuracy. No real, professional hitman had ever been able to do the same. It was impressive… and also infuriating.

"Nothing, nothing!" Tsuna whimpered.

How had Lambo survived years of that kind of treatment? Tsuna was sure a few more days would kill him.

~.~.~

Gokudera and Lambo were arguing again, but the sound of their voices suddenly seemed to fade into the background. Something cold swept down Tsuna's spine. He tensed, and he thought he felt Reborn shift as well, though the hitman's posture remained casual.

"Oh? So you noticed?" Reborn said quietly.

"Someone's coming," Tsuna whispered, ducking his head to try to hide his reaction.

"No," Reborn corrected, "they're already here."

They pushed away from each other at the same time - Tsuna twisting out of Reborn's hold, the hitman shoving him away.

The timing was perfect. Like a comet, a tall man with long pale hair crashed down on the spot they had been standing, sword-first. A deep gash was carved into the pavement, extending all the way across the street and into the store front across from them.

Being two children of the mafia, it took Gokudera and Lambo only a second longer to react. While Lambo scrambled for his weapon case, Gokudera had already drawn two handfuls of dynamite. As Tsuna dashed toward them, Gokudera threw the bombs into the air, toward their attacker.

The long-haired man sneered, and his sword flashed out, faster than they could follow. The dynamite fell to the ground, each fuse cut neatly.

"VOI! Is that the best you've got?" the man sneered. "This is why I didn't want to take this waste of time job!"

"You're… Superbi Squalo of the Varia," Gokudera said, swallowing heavily. His hands were shaking, but that didn't stop him from drawing more dynamite, ready to fight. "What do you want from us?"

'Varia?' Tsuna thought. 'This is bad. How did they find us? Did I mess up after all?'

"Don't play dumb," Squalo said, his expression twisting with annoyance. "I want the Vongola Sky Ring! And that thief's head!"

He pointed his sword at Tsuna, who cringed away.

"I-I don't suppose there's any point in saying I don't know what you mean," he said, smiling awkwardly.

"Hah! That guy's presence gives it away, trash!" Squalo said. This time his sword pointed to Reborn, who stared back with narrowed eyes. "With the Sky Ring stolen, where else would the old man's most trusted hitman be? It's obvious! Our leader saw through your ploy in no time!"

"You're making some heavy accusations there, and with no proof," Reborn said coolly. However, inside he was seething. 'That damn brat. If he hadn't followed me...' he thought. 'No, it's my fault too. I can't believe I fell for the same trick I used myself. I was too arrogant, assuming the Varia wouldn't be able to follow me...'

Squalo sneered. "You're acting pretty defensive there," he shot back.

Smiling dangerously, Reborn shrugged. "You're completely right," he said. "Nono sent me to hunt down the Sky Ring. So this guy is my prey. Don't get in my way."

He layered killing intent in the last statement, but Squalo only smirked. He wasn't arrogant enough to think he could win against the greatest hitman in the world, but protecting someone was always much harder than killing them, and he knew that Reborn was in a disadvantageous position. He couldn't attack the Varia directly, not without causing an all-out conflict within Vongola, since he would be seen as acting on Nono's orders.

Not to mention that just the idea of facing someone of Reborn's caliber set Squalo's blood on fire.

Behind Squalo, Tsuna watched the standoff with only half an eye. Instead, he carefully began to edge away, pulling Gokudera with him.

The moment they drew beside Lambo, Tsuna spun around and, grabbing the boy's hand, tried to run. "Let's go!" he yelled to Gokudera, who followed on his heels. Lambo squawked in surprise, reaching for his weapon case.

Unfortunately, they didn't get far.

"Hiieee!" Tsuna backpedaled suddenly, throwing himself backward as several small knives streaked through the air and lodged in the pavement in front of him.

"Ushishishi," the second attacker snickered. "Not so fast, peasants. Don't forget the prince is here too." He looked down on them from the roof of a nearby building, his small crown glinting in the light. His ugly smile widened at Gokudera's glare and Tsuna's uneasy look.

"Voi! Took you long enough," Squalo sneered, not taking his eyes off Reborn. "Belphegor, I'm leaving the brats to you. Don't forget our orders."

"Why do you get the fun part?" Belphegor complained. However, his smile didn't waver, and he pulled out another handful of knives. "Don't worry, the prince never fails."

Gokudera had drawn his own weapons, and Tsuna readied himself as well, the glimmer of Flames in his eyes hidden behind sunglasses. Cowering next to them, Lambo could only clutch his fake cello case closer, not yet quite understanding what was happening as he looked between the adults around him, all ready to fight - and some to kill.

"Be careful, Kaitou-sama," Gokudera cautioned quietly. "His knives will be coated in poison. Just one scratch could be fatal."

Tsuna nodded. "Focus on getting away," he said in reply. "And try to keep the collateral damage down. There might still be civilians in the area."

On the other side of Squalo, Reborn smirked mirthlessly. 'You haven't got the luxury of worrying about anyone else, you amateur,' he thought. 'Still, the Varia are getting completely out of hand. The stupid cow brat attacking out in the open is one thing, but what happened to being an elite assassination squad?'

Xanxus's vendetta had happened. His rage blinded him to everything else, and his subordinates were only too happy to slip their already long leashes and act without fear of consequences.

Squalo moved first, rushing at Reborn with his sword drawn back.

The same limitations that stopped Reborn from directly fighting the Varia should have applied to him as well, but Squalo seemed to have forgotten them in his bloodlust. It was a double standard - no one expected better of the Varia and no one would make a fuss, even if their second in command suddenly attacked the Ninth's most trusted hitman while he was on a mission.

"How about this? My Zanna di Squalo, Fang of the Shark!" Squalo yelled, smiling far too widely.

Pushing his fedora down in frustration, Reborn dodged the rapid-fire thrusts easily. Still, the sheer intensity of the attack forced him back.

Squalo's eyes had narrowed, even as he continued his relentless assault. 'The air… it's too thick,' he thought. It was harder to cut through than it should have been, forcing him to expend more power just to keep his Zanna on the same level as usual.

Noticing the same thing, Reborn let himself smirk and continue to fall back. 'Well, this might be a good opportunity after all,' he decided. 'I've been wondering how the Phantom Thief is in combat.'

Indeed, the other four participants of the confrontation hadn't been idle. Moving first, Gokudera threw his dynamite at Belphegor, while Tsuna pulled Lambo into the shadow of the building the Varia member was standing on, to make the angle of his throws more difficult.

Belphegor had reacted instantly, throwing knives to intercept the dynamite just as Squalo had with his sword. However, something was wrong. Hidden from sight, his eyes widened - the two sets of projectiles seemed to slip through each other, and the dynamite continued in its path toward him.

'I… missed?' he thought. 'Impossible...'

Kagerou, activated by Tsuna, had done its job, throwing off his aim enough for Belphegor's knives to miss their precise mark. And although Kagerou affected Gokudera just much, for dynamite, "close enough" was still good enough.

An explosion engulfed the rooftop where Belphegor had stood. Down on the street, Gokudera rolled out of the way of the knives, though the sense distortion effects of Kagerou made it hard for him to judge exactly where they would hit. He winced as his sleeve and upper arm were cut up by a projectile he hadn't quite managed to avoid.

"Gokudera!" Tsuna yelled, worry deep in his voice as he remembered Gokudera's warning about possible poison on the blade.

There was definitely an effect. He could feel his arm growing numb almost immediately, but it wasn't the feeling of lethal poison. 'This is a paralyzing agent,' Gokudera thought. 'But not strong enough to kill. Ah, I never thought I'd be thankful to my sister for trying every possible kind of poison on me...'

Thanks to her efforts - or rather, the traumatizing childhood she had subjected him to - Gokudera had gotten very, very good at identifying poisons, and gained something of a resistance to them as well.

His dynamite was stronger than Lambo's grenades had been, and despite Gokudera's expert timing of the explosions, part of the roof and the upper wall collapsed, taking Belphegor with it.

"Voi, idiot!" Squalo roared, chancing a glance back over his shoulder. Reborn let him, though such carelessness made him feel distinctly underestimated.

Taking what he saw as an opening while Reborn was off-balance, Squalo spun around and charged toward Gokudera, his sword slicing diagonally in front of him.

"I don't know what you're doing," Squalo snarled, "but it won't stand against my Scontro di Squalo!"

'Oh-ho, so that's the Charge of the Shark, the attack that defeated the Sword Emperor,' Reborn thought, watching with mild interest.

Squalo was right. Tsuna winced as he felt Kagerou torn apart. His Sky Flames were completely disrupted under the pressure of Scontro, falling out of his control. However, the reverse also applied - the resistance caused by Kagerou cut down the power of Scontro.

Gokudera had no time to dodge, and the blow he received sent him flying, cutting a red line across his chest. However, it wasn't enough to kill him - or even to put him down for the count. Rolling, Gokudera managed to scramble onto all fours and glare, narrow-eyed, at Squalo.

"Gokudera!" Tsuna yelled again, anger and fear mixing together. Behind his sunglasses, his eyes narrowed, glimmering with the light of his Sky Flames.

With his instincts fine-tuned through numerous battles, Squalo felt something shift in the air, even if he didn't realize exactly what it was. The heavier, hotter air under Kagerou closed behind him with a visible ripple, reclaiming the area he torn through with his charge, as Tsuna swept his arms forward.

A spark of fire flashed along the ground, making Squalo's eyes widen. He recognized a Sky Flame, but it seemed impossible for it to appear so far from the user, Tsuna.

'So he can do that too,' Reborn thought, smirking a little. That was the other power of Kagerou, which he hadn't mentioned either, though he had guessed - in a very crude way, the air infused with Sky Flames became a channeling medium and a temporary weapon. In other words, the air itself could ignite and burn with Sky Flames.

Their strength would be much lower, naturally, than Flames channeled through a proper weapon, or even used bare-hand like Xanxus's Flames of Wrath. But the flexibility of the technique was useful in its own way, especially for Tsuna, who had no weapons that could channel Flames without disintegrating.

And even the reduced power of Tsuna's Flames was enough to re-light the fuses of Gokudera's dynamite, abandoned on the ground behind Squalo.

This time, he had no chance to put them out.

Tsuna lunged for Gokudera, pulling him down as the dynamite exploded. Squalo was sent flying, the explosion hitting him in the side as he tried to turn. He hit the ground with a grunt and, rolling to a stop, did not immediately rise.

"Come on," Tsuna said, his voice low and tense, as he pulled Gokudera to his feet. "This is our chance-"

But before they could get any further, creepy laughter echoed across the damaged street, making them freeze in their tracks.

"Ushishishi…" The rubble from the roof shifted, sliding aside as a slouching figure slowly emerged. Belphegor stood, loose-limbed. He staggered, his head lolling like a puppet's, but he continued to laugh. "I'm bleeding..." he muttered. "The prince is bleeding… royal blood was spilled..."

Throwing his head back, he burst into full-throated laughter.

Instinctively, Tsuna knew that their second opponent had become more dangerous than before. He tried to pull Gokudera along faster, but there was no time. Belphegor spread his arms, like a magician showing a trick, and many, many knives appeared in his hands.

In the next instance, the knives were flying. The sheer number and spread was too great, and both Gokudera and Tsuna realized that they wouldn't be able to get out of the way, not with Gokudera still reeling from previous battle damage.

'Kaitou-sama!' Gokudera thought desperately, moving to shove Tsuna out of the way. If at least Tsuna could escape...

But instead, he found his arm tightly grasped. His eyes met Tsuna's determined gaze. Shifting his weight, Tsuna jerked Gokudera up and over his shoulder and sent him flying in a clean, well-executed throw, well out of the attack's range

"Belphegor, you trash! We're supposed to take him alive!" Squalo yelled, finally recovered enough to lever himself up.

Unfortunately, his comrade paid him no heed. Tsuna looked up at the storm of knives bearing down on him, caught between panic and a strange sense of calm that seemed to build up within him. In his mind, he could see every possible action and reaction, and how to combine them, laid out before him with startling clarity. To escape this situation, he would need to...

However, there was no need for him to act.

"Alright, I've seen enough," Reborn said quietly.

Raising the pistol in his hand, he gathered enough Sun Flames in the weapon to make the tip shine with a golden glow. Pulling the trigger, he released the Chaos Shot. The attack immediately split, numerous shining arrows shooting out along individual paths.

Like a rain of light, they intercepted the knives in mid-flight, before a single one could reach Tsuna. The knives and Sun Flames clattered against the ground, completely pulverizing the pavement.

Still on the edge of the same calm, detached mindset, Tsuna didn't hesitate to take the opportunity to run to Gokudera's side, haul him to his feet, and hobble away as quickly as they could.

Belphegor let them go, turning instead in the opposite direction, toward Reborn.

"Don't interfere with the royal hunt, peasant," he ordered, his grin widening and his head tilting oddly.

"Peasant?" Reborn repeated, smirking. "Are your eyes completely useless? Can't you see I'm nothing like that?"

Squalo had managed to regain his feet and, as he turned to face Reborn, the same bloodthirsty grin spread across his face. Despite being the focus of the two Varia members' murderous attention, Reborn remained completely cool, his eyes lazily following Tsuna and Gokudera's retreat.

"Hmm, I suppose I can play with you for a bit," Reborn decided, as the Phantom Thief and his follower ducked down a side alley and out of sight. "Pay attention, you might learn something."

~.~.~

Judging they had gone far enough, Tsuna lowered Gokudera to the ground and reached for the bandages he had learned to carry, just in case. Propped up against a brick wall of small house, Gokudera bit back a groan as Tsuna pulled aside the bloodstained remains of his shirt. Fortunately, the cut created by Squalo's charge was shallow, if long and rather jagged.

"Kaitou-sama, you should keep moving," Gokudera managed. "They're after you."

"I know," Tsuna said tensely, his hands moving quickly to wrap bandages across his torso. "But they know you're with me. I can't just leave you. There's no telling what they'd do to you."

He swallowed heavily. 'I already left that kid behind,' he thought, his brow furrowing in concern and guilt. As he had pulled Gokudera away from the battle scene, he had seen Lambo cowering between two buildings, his weapon case clutched protectively in front of him. It was probably armored and a good shield, but the way he held it was more like a security blanket or stuffed toy.

The Varia members had both ignored him from the start, and Tsuna could only pray they would continue to do so. After all, they had no reason to go after Lambo. Taking him with them would only put the boy in more danger, since Tsuna was the real target, and Tsuna wouldn't have been able to haul along both him and Gokudera.

Hopefully, if Lambo stayed out of sight, the Varia wouldn't even notice him there, focusing instead on Reborn.

If nothing else, Tsuna reassured himself, Lambo had survived Reborn for years. He had to be nigh-unkillable. He'd make it through this too. Hopefully.

"Can you keep going?" Tsuna asked Gokudera, shaking away those thoughts. There was nothing he could do about it now. It was in Reborn's hands, and Tsuna thought, perhaps unfoundedly, that the hitman wasn't heartless enough to let a child, even an annoying one, die needlessly.

"I'm fine, Kaitou-sama," Gokudera assured him. "I'm sorry to present such a pathetic sight. I should have done more."

"Against an elite assassination squad?" Tsuna said dubiously. "We're still alive. That's more than most can say."

"They weren't aiming to kill," Gokudera said pensively. 'At least, they want Kaitou-sama alive. For what? A public execution?' Most likely, the Varia leader wanted to settle things personally with the one who had dared to challenge him.

"Come on," Tsuna said, shaking his head and pulling Gokudera to his feet. "Let's keep going. Reborn won't stall them forever."

It wasn't that he couldn't. About Reborn, Tsuna wasn't particularly worried. Rather, he suspected the hitman would eventually get tired of it and just leave. The help they had already gotten was honestly more than Tsuna had dared to expect. No doubt it would cost Tsuna many, many more "amateur" taunts.

Gokudera hesitated, his gaze caught on the building he had been leaning up against. He seemed to waver on his feet and reached out to brace himself against it again.

"Gokudera?" Tsuna asked, reaching out to support his friend. "Are you really alright? We can wait a little longer."

Shaking his head, Gokudera leaned heavily on Tsuna, who struggled a little under the weight. "No, we have to keep going," he said. He pressed closer, so much that their foreheads brushed and their breath intermingled. "Kaitou-sama," Gokudera said, so quietly that even Tsuna could barely hear, "we're in an illusion."

Tsuna's breath caught, his eyes widening, but Gokudera's hand tightening around his shoulder reminded him to hide his reaction. He ducked his head, his gaze darting around.

Everything looked normal enough. The buildings on either side of the narrow alley, made of faded, chipped red brick, were the very picture of rustic European architecture. They had passed many such houses while running blindly, and even before that, as they traveled through the small town.

In fact, now that he looked closely, the building was a little too familiar. It was identical to one just five houses down, complete with the missing brick in the third row from the bottom.

"When I was leaning against that building," Gokudera continued quietly, taking a stumbling step forward, "I felt wooden boards at my back, even though it looks like it's made of brick. It's a trick. It looks like one thing, but it's really another. There's no telling how much of what we're seeing is real."

There was no telling if what looked like a dead end really was, or if they were being herded somewhere. There was no telling if they had even gotten any further from the battle scene, or if they had been going in circles. When had the illusion begun?

'I should have realized. That's why there are no people here,' Tsuna thought. 'They let us go too easily, those two Varia members. It wasn't that they were blinded by bloodlust or that they decided to prioritize Reborn. They just had someone else lying in wait.'

As they stumbled along, Tsuna could feel the slowly building crawling sensation of someone watching them. He closed his eyes, trying to isolate the feeling and put a direction to it. However, that sixth sense - that intuition - kept slipping through his fingers.

"What should we do, Kaitou-sama?" Gokudera asked quietly. "With the clouds so thick, I can't even judge the position of the sun. There's no telling if we're even going in the right direction."

What options did they even have? Illusionists were notoriously hard to fight, and neither of them had any experience at it.

'Judging by its characteristics, this is a limited real illusion,' Tsuna thought. 'That means it was created through the use of Mist Flames, and exists in reality, instead of being in our minds. So maybe...'

It wasn't hard to fake tripping over the cobblestones. Tsuna was getting pretty tired, not being used to carrying something heavy for long. Gokudera grunted a little as they both collapsed to the ground, and Tsuna shot him an apologetic look.

"Let's rest a bit," Tsuna said, smiling awkwardly.

He would need to be fast. Any illusionist this skilled would be able to sense him using his Sky Flames. But there was something that could help him. It was only right. This thing was what got him into this mess.

Tsuna's hand slipped into his pocket and wrapped around the Vongola Sky Ring, which pulsed warmly against his palm. Just like at the CEDEF base, it reacted seamlessly to his Flames. It really was the best channeling tool he had ever seen.

As if sensing his intent, Gokudera subtly shifted his weight off Tsuna. The Phantom Thief let his eyes slip shut and concentrated.

Unseen by the two young men, a hooded, robed figure observed them from above. The unknown third member of the Varia floated in the air just over the alley, having easily followed and then directed their progress away from the cafe battlefield.

Despite what Tsuna thought, they were not going in circles. In fact, they had been led down the quickest possible path away from where the other two Varia members were still fighting. The illusion was not even mostly for Tsuna and Gokudera's benefit. Rather, it was a last-ditch resort to stall Reborn just a little longer when he finally lost interest in Squalo and Belphegor.

"The extra one is slowing the thief down," Mammon muttered. "Should I kill him? I didn't get paid for that. And the thief might decide to fight. Then I'll have to knock him out and carry him. I didn't get paid for that either. So how to keep them moving? Some sounds of pursuit? A glimpse of someone on their tail? Come to think of it, I wasn't even paid to chase them like this..."

As Mammon hovered, pondering the best way to get the Phantom Thief in the most advantageous position to be picked up and taken to their leader, with the least amount of effort, Tsuna let the Vongola Sky Ring slip onto his middle finger. Like before, it fit entirely too perfectly.

Mammon flinched, sensing the overwhelming surge of power, and instinctively tried to pull back.

In the next instance, soft Sky Flames swept outward, down the narrow streets, over the quaint little houses and into the air. Despite not being concentrated enough to be seen, they made the air ripple with heat, like a mirage.

As Tsuna had hoped, his own Sky Flames clashed with the Mist Flames of the illusion, causing it to waver, destabilized. The appearance of buildings changed, several disappearing altogether to reveal previously hidden paths.

'There!' Tsuna thought, spinning around to pin his gaze on the visible distortion up above, where the illusionist hovered.

In the narrow alley way, it was easy for Tsuan to take a running jump, push off one building, onto the other, using the second story window sill, and leap toward his enemy in the open air above the roofs.

Even with the hood and its deep shadow, Mammon's expression clearly twisted into a snarl as the illusionist tried to fly higher, out of reach. It wasn't enough. Pulling his hand free, Tsuna let concentrated Sky Flames gather, the Vongola Ring glowing like a small star, and propel him further.

The two collided, Tsuna clinging tightly to Mammon's cloak and forcing his full weight onto the illusionist. With Mammon's concentration momentarily thrown completely off, both of them plummeted.

Suddenly, Tsuna yelped, yanking his hands free of Mammon's robes. That was all the opening the Varia member needed.

"Get off!" Mammon yelled. Unexpectedly panicked, the Varia member didn't resort to the usual illusions and instead shoved Tsuna away with a surprisingly uncontrolled psychic blast.

Tsuna caught himself neatly in mid-fall, landing on the ground without a stumble. Making a face, he shook his hand, which loosely held a thin chain. 'What was that?!' he thought, a shiver crawling up his spine. 'Gross! It felt like he's got slime under his robes or something!'

Rather than press an attack, Mammon stared down at the object Tsuna had stolen.

"Wait, that's…!"

A bright, indigo light burst out from beneath the illusionist's robes.

'My Mammon Chain! He's going to sense I'm here!'

Assuming the light signaled an attack, Tsuna and Gokudera braced themselves. But Mammon only spared a moment to glare down at them.

"I'm definitely not paid to deal with that guy," the illusionist muttered.

Then, to their shock, he turned his back and swiftly fled.

Blinking in surprise, Tsuna slowly straightened. The Sky Flames of the Vongola Ring flickered and extinguished as he felt the tension of battle drain away.

"Kaitou-sama?" Gokudera ventured finally.

"Let's get out of here," Tsuna said, swallowing against his own uncertainty. "Reborn'll catch up on his own."

Pulling off the Sky Ring, he reached into his pocket to stow it away again, together with the strange chain. Something crinkled against his hand, and Tsuna paused.

'Did I steal something else without thinking?' he wondered. 'I don't remember taking anything like this...'

It was a piece of paper, folded neatly. Inside, in sharp handwriting, was a set of direction, followed by two instructions. "Tell Dino I sent you," and, "Lay low for a while, amateur."

Tsuna's eyes narrowed, first thoughtfully, then in growing annoyance. There was only one person who could have slipped something into his pocket without him noticing. And there was only one person who insulted him so easily and pointedly.

The paper crumbled as his hand fisted in frustration. 'Reborn, you… I'll get you for this!'

~.~.~

It didn't take Reborn long to grow tired of avoiding Squalo and Belphegor's strikes. It wasn't hard, but it wasn't interesting either. 'Is this really the best Vongola's elite assassination squad can offer?' he thought. 'I'll have to talk to Nono about raising his standards.'

It also didn't take him long to maneuver them both into knocking themselves out - by running into a building (Squalo) and collapsing an overhang on his head (Belphegor). Reborn hadn't even bothered drawing a gun or having Leon transform. His would-be opponents did all the work for him.

Looking over the two bodies, half buried in rubble their own attacks had created, Reborn sighed and adjusted his tie.

"I guess it's about time to get going," he said to himself. "Those two should have gotten far enough by now. I wonder if he found my note yet..." Reborn smirked faintly, imagining the Phantom Thief's reaction. It really was years - decades, centuries - too early for him to be trying any sleight of hand on the world's greatest hitman.

Catching a hint of movement out of the corner of his eye, Reborn glanced into the the shadows between two buildings. A familiar, cow-printed small figure crawled out, dragging a massive weapon case with him. Glancing furtively around the battlefield, Lambo sniffled and stood.

Taking one a deep breath, then another, he seemed to regain a little of his prior attitude. "A-as expected of the super first class hitman Reborn!" Lambo declared, his voice wavering but gaining strength. "Even those scary guys were no match for you!"

'Scary guys? This kid doesn't even realize how much danger he was in just being in their vicinity,' Reborn thought, sighing soundlessly.

"But! That's why you're worthy of being defeated by the Great Lambo!" the boy continued, dragging the fake cello case forward and reaching into one of the compartments.

His hand froze partway there, as the cold muzzle of a pistol pressed against Lambo's forehead. Reborn had never drawn a gun on the boy before. There had been no need, but things had gone too far. It was time to instill some sense into that thick head of his.

"Don't do that again," Reborn said evenly. "You got that? You're not going to beat me, and I'm getting tired of putting up with your pathetic attempts. So get lost and don't ever follow me again."

He pressed the barrel closer, digging a little into the boy's skin. The gun wasn't even loaded, but Lambo had no way of knowing that. He couldn't even whimper, too scared to make a sounds as his green eyes went wide and filled with tears.

"Do you understand?" Reborn pressed, allowing killing intent to leak into his tone.

Lambo nodded frantically and, the moment Reborn pulled away the gun, burst into tears, clinging to his weapon case. Without further prompting, he scrambled away from the hitman and into a small alley, disappearing from sight.

Reborn snorted, shaking his head as he holstered the weapon. Hopefully, the kid would finally give up and focus on something more realistic. It would be a shame if he got himself killed so quickly.

Unbeknownst to Reborn, Lambo hadn't gone far. Over the years, he had gotten very good at hiding his presence from the world's greatest hitman, as long as he didn't approach too close or make any overtly threatening moves. Or rather, Reborn had simply become too accustomed to him and saw him as too minor a threat, so he had started subconsciously dismissing Lambo's presence.

"Stupid Reborn," Lambo mumbled to himself, "as if the Great Lambo would give up so easily. Fine then, I won't follow him anymore. I'll just follow those other guys, and stupid Reborn'll be the one to come the Great Lambo!"

However, he only took a few shuffling steps away before freezing in shock as a bright yellow light burst out behind him.

Reborn had frozen as well. 'Why is it reacting now? And this much?' he thought, his eyes narrowing. Plunging his hand into his pocket, he tightly grasped the source of the light. It was already dimming rapidly. 'Whoever it is, they're moving away fast,' he judged. There was no point in trying pursue them. 'But why did it only react after they got that close?'

"Is that how the Varia followed me?" he wondered, the possibility suddenly occurring to him. "If they've got one of us working for them, but he found some way to block the reaction on his side…"

Reborn frowned. There it was again, that annoying feeling of being out of the loop.

"It might be better to just leave them with Dino for a while, until I get some answers," Reborn mused. He smirked. "Let's see what those amateur idiots make of each other."

It was almost a shame to miss it.

~.~.~

**Notes**

Q: That's not how Flames/Chaos Shot/illusions/other work!  
A: ...next question. (Lalalala, I can't hear you~)

Q: What's with the power levels here?  
A: Hell if I know. Reborn is way above everyone, but the Varia are supposed to be really, really good. So Gokudera being able to match one of them is… unlikely, at this point, especially since he hasn't been focusing on combat since meeting Tsuna. Tsuna himself has never really even considered straight up fighting an opponent to be an option. It's all run, stall, hide, run some more with him. So all the fights are… inconclusive.

I was originally going to write Reborn completely owning Bel and Squalo, but I wanted to finish this chapter before New Year, so you'll just have to imagine it.

Q: What about Lambo?  
A: He'll show up again. I also have no idea how he's able to follow Reborn. Idiot savant, I guess. In appearance, he's not yet the bishounen he becomes TYL, but he's not quite the same weird cow kid either. Somewhere in between. Also, his afro is much smaller and no longer magic, and the Ten Year Bazooka doesn't exist because I don't want to deal with it. But on the other hand, Lambo has enough other weapons for an entire mercenary group.

Q: What gender is Mammon?  
A: Who knows?

Next chapter is going to be mostly denouement and explanations for the action and character introductions in this one. So, uh, look forward to that, yeah?

Happy New Year!

~.~.~

_Next time: Dino Cavallone._

~.~.~


	6. Safe house

~.~.~

**Phantom Thief Decimo**

_Previously: Tsuna, Reborn and Gokudera found themselves under attack, first by the young Lambo Bovino, who sought to defeat Reborn, then by the Varia. While Reborn was able to easily stall both Squalo and Belphegor, even he missed the presence of the illusionist Mammon. The group was forced to split as Tsuna and Gokudera sought refuge with Reborn's acquaintance Dino._

~.~.~

"Kaitou-sama…" Gokudera said quietly, his expression very flat. "I've been thinking this for a while, but does it seem to you that…"

"...We're being followed," Tsuna agreed, his expression equally flat. 'I hate to use that word, but… amateurly so. We're being followed by an amateur! I noticed long ago, and so did Gokudera! How in world could Reborn ever miss this?'

The answer was simple - acclimation. No matter how annoying the sound, or in this case the bratty stalker, eventually a person just got used to it. After the first six months or so, even Reborn had just started subconsciously tuning out the signs of being followed by the child he judged to be no threat to him.

Basically, Lambo was so insignificant, Reborn tended to forget he existed.

Tsuna and Gokudera were not nearly so accustomed to the boy. They couldn't help twitching when Lambo tried to dart out from behind one streetlight and to the next, only to trip halfway there. As he faceplanted into the asphalt, his weapon case crashed down with him, with a resounding clang.

Pulling himself up, Lambo whimpered, "Hold… it… in…" Tears were already gathering in his eyes.

"Ah… how many times does this make?" Tsuna wondered, mentally exhausted.

"That brat, is he mocking us?" Gokudera wondered, grinding his teeth.

Dropping his head, Tsuna sighed. "How long are we going to have to wander around like this? We circled around so much to lose him, and I thought he'd give up, especially since Reborn isn't with us…"

"We have to get rid of him and head to the place Mr. Reborn told us to go!" Gokudera gritted out, shaking with frustration.

The two exchanged a long look, sharing the same thought. 'There's no choice. We'll have to do it.' Taking a deep breath, they shifted subtly into a ready stance.

"Run for it!" Gokudera and Tsuna yelled at the same time, both taking off sprinting down the street.

The suddenness of it made Lambo stare after them in shock for a moment. "Hey! That's not fair! Come back!" he yelled, recovering. Hoisting up his fake cello case, the boy tried to chase after them.

Unfortunately, his much shorter legs couldn't keep up, even when he forced them to move as quickly as they could. Screwing up his face in determination, Lambo tried to go faster, but instead his foot caught on a crack in the pavement and he found himself once again greeting the ground face first.

When Lambo pushed himself up once more, the two teenagers were almost out of sight and his weapons had once again scattered around him. He'd never catch them now.

Of course, the Great Lambo wouldn't give up with just that. He'd get up, gather his things and track them down again. But in that moment, it just seemed too unfair.

Sniffling, he told himself, "Hold… it… in…" But he couldn't, thick tears welling up in his eyes, his breath hitching, shoulders shaking.

Tsuna glanced back instinctively at the loud wailing behind them and slowed to a stop as he caught sight of Lambo, bawling out in the middle of the street.

"Kaitou-sama…" Gokudera muttered helplessly, caught between frustration and admiration. He knew what was about to happen, and while all commonsense rebelled against it, Gokudera couldn't bring himself to protest. 'That's the way Kaitou-sama is,' he thought with a sigh.

Hesitating for only a moment, while Lambo's sobs grew louder, Tsuna turned around and slowly headed back. As he knelt beside the boy, Lambo stared up at him with wide, teary eyes.

"Ah, you caught me," Tsuna recited awkwardly, looking away and running a hand through his hair. "We just can't get away from you. I give up, you win. S-so let's go together, how about it?"

Lambo's lower lip trembled, making Tsuna panic for a moment, before the boy suddenly grinned. "Yahaha! That's right! You can't escape! The Great Lambo will be coming with you!"

~.~.~

**Chapter 6: Safe house ~ What Makes a Family**

~.~.~

The place Reborn's directions led to was an ordinary-looking apartment building in the newer part of a large town. It was one out of several cookie-cutter identical constructions and didn't stand out in any particular way from the three buildings to the left of it or the four to the right.

Lambo had dozed off an hour back, but despite Gokudera's pointed suggestions, Tsuna had refused to just leave the boy on a park bench. If he'd persistently followed Reborn of all people for years, then there was no doubt that Lambo would just follow them again. Better to keep him in sight, right?

Part of Gokudera's displeasure with this decision probably came from the fact that he had to carry Lambo heavy weapon case in the boy's stead. Apparently, it weighed not only more than Lambo, but more than Gokudera himself.

Setting the fake cello case down with a groan and dull clang, Gokudera took a deep breath of relief and looked up at the apartment building thoughtfully.

"This is…" he muttered, only to trail off. Shaking his head at Tsuna's questioning look, he added, "If Mr. Reborn told us to come here, it should be alright."

When it became obvious that Gokudera wasn't about to say anything else, Tsuna headed up to the entrance, keying in the passcode. The electronic lock beeped loudly, the bolts sliding open and letting Tsuna pull the thick door open.

It was odd. 'Is this neighborhood that unsafe?' Tsuna wondered, glancing around before stepping into the stairwell. "Come on, we're on the seventh floor," he called back to Gokudera, who eyed the elevator longingly. However, neither was willing to risk it.

Halfway between the fourth and fifth floor, Tsuna began to severely regret that paranoia. Lambo was heavier than he looked - or maybe Tsuna had even less stamina than he thought. He couldn't imagine how Gokudera was managing the massive weapon case.

The two teenagers almost literally crawled onto the seventh floor landing, after what felt like hours of stairs, and collapsed against the wall next to one of the apartments. Peering blearily up at the ceiling, Tsuna tried to remember what Reborn's instructions said about getting inside.

Wasn't he supposed to get a key somewhere? Where did people keep extra keys? Top of the doorframe? Under the doormat?

Wait, wasn't he supposed to get the key… before climbing the stairs?

Groaning, Tsuna thumped his head against the wall. He didn't care, he decided. He was too tired to think about it. He was too tired to check Reborn's instructions - he couldn't even remember which pocket he had stuffed them in.

So he was just going to pick the lock.

Tsuna didn't stop to think about all the ways that was a terrible idea. Not because the lock proved any challenge to him, or even the traps in the entryway. Rather, because he should have remembered that he was breaking into a safe house chosen by the greatest hitman in the world - a place that wasn't supposed to be broken into.

Even with Lambo on his back, Tsuna easily deactivated the sensors and protective measures in the entryway and moved deeper into the apartment. Habitually, he ran his hand along the wall and flicked the light switch on.

The sight of a gun pointed straight at him made Tsuna freeze in his tracks.

He hadn't sensed anything - or at least, he hadn't sensed any danger. Tsuna stared in shock at the young man holding the gun. Tall, blond, good-looking, with a tattoo crawling up his left arm, he had a friendly face that was unfortunately set in a serious, cold expression.

"Kaitou-sama!" Gokudera hissed behind him, his hands twitching toward his hidden dynamite.

Truthfully, Tsuna panicked a little. He often had people point guns at him, but they were rarely so close. And he was still in the narrow entryway, which offered little room for maneuvering. Not to mention that if he dodged, there was a chance that Gokudera would be hit instead.

"Uh... s-sorry for the intrusion," Tsuna said automatically, wincing internally immediately after.

On Tsuna's back, Lambo sniffled and stirred, slowly waking up. Yawning, he rubbed one eye with a small fist and looked up to stare blearily at the young stranger. The young man stared back, surprise making his serious expression soften.

His gaze passed to Gokudera, and recognition flashed in his eyes. "You're Hurricane Bomb Hayato," he noted.

Gokudera nodded, his body still tense and ready to fight. "We've got no quarrel with the Cavallone," he said tersely, but his glare didn't waver from the gun that was still pointed at Tsuna.

'Cavallone?' Tsuna wondered. 'Why is Gokudera bringing that up? Wait, don't tell me… Reborn wouldn't...'

The young stranger smiled, lopsided and clearly dubious. "So then," he said casually, "why are you guys breaking into our safe house?"

He definitely did, Tsuna realized.

"Reborn told us to," he said immediately, cutting off Gokudera's answer. 'Reborn, I'll get you for this,' Tsuna thought, grinding his teeth. 'Why did you send us to Vongola's closest ally?!'

Strangely, that seemed to be the right thing to say. The young man wisely didn't lower his guard entirely, but he seemed to find some deeper meaning in Tsuna's blame-shifting.

"Oh, Reborn, of course," he sighed. "I got a call too. So can you tell me what this is all about?"

Tsuna studied him for a moment, mentally weighing his options. Although Nono had not explicitly said so, it was clear that part of the Phantom Thief's job was to not reveal their deal to anyone not already in the know. But Reborn had chosen to send Tsuna here and to call this young man - whom Tsuna finally recognized as Dino Cavallone, the Boss of the Cavallone Famiglia - to meet them.

And… there was a reason Tsuna hadn't felt any danger when he walked into the apartment blind. It was because Dino didn't have the slightest trace of killing intent. In fact, he felt the opposite - safe, trustworthy. Already, he was watching Tsuna and Gokudera with an open, accepting gaze.

Hanging under Tsuna's shirt from the chain he had stolen, the Sky Ring pulsed warmly.

'Whatever. It's on Reborn's head,' Tsuna decided.

"Well, it's like this," he said. "I'm the Phantom Thief. The Varia are after me because I stole the Vongola Sky Ring…"

~.~.~

During Tsuna's story, they moved into the living room. Dino tripped on the coffee table, but he refused to take his eyes off Tsuna and gestured for him to continue, barely pausing to rub at his injured shin.

Even Lambo, who had quickly lost all vestiges of sleepiness as the Phantom Thief's tale unfurled, kept quiet the entire way through.

He started laughing obnoxiously as soon as Tsuna finished. "So you're going to become next Boss of Vongola? The Great Lambo knew you were worthy of associating with! Maybe we can be allies, once I become the Boss of the Bovino Family… if the Great Lambo feels like it!"

"No, that's not it at all," Tsuna tried to tell him. "I don't want to be the Vongola Boss. The entire point is to have the Ninth's chosen successor take over."

Lambo ignored him. "When you're the Vongola Boss, you should make stupid Reborn do embarrassing stuff! Like, like… counting all the leaves on the trees in the gardens! Or putting all the books in the library in order using a special code!"

'That's… not embarrassing, that's just boring make-work,' Tsuna thought. Was this kid speaking from experience? 'Never mind that! Who in their right mind would try to haze Reborn?!'

Dragged out of his thoughts, Dino was startled into a laugh. "That wouldn't work," he said, shaking his head. "Reborn's a freelancer. He refuses any job he sees as below him… well, usually."

His lips quirked in a thoughtful smile, but he only shook his head at Tsuna's questioning look. His grin was infectious, and, tentatively, Tsuna smiled back.

"I trust Reborn. If he sent you here, if he wants me to help you, then that's what I'll do," Dino said. Standing from the couch, he offered a hand to Tsuna. "Stay as long as you need to. I'll make sure no one finds you."

"Sure," Tsuna agreed without thinking. 'Uwah… I can't help trusting him,' he thought. 'Is it because he also has Sky Flames? I wanted to trust Vongola IX right away too… Well, Reborn did send us here. I'll trust him too. It'll be good to take a load off for a while.' Smiling, he let Dino pull him to his feet.

"Then, I wanna eat! You promised you'd get me food!" Lambo butted in. "The Great Lambo wants candy for dinner!"

"Candy isn't dinner," Tsuna pointed out.

"You little brat! Don't try to take advantage of Kaitou-sama's kindness!" Gokudera protested far more loudly. "Or Cavallone's hospitality either! For that matter, just get lost! This doesn't involve you!"

"You get lost!" Lambo yelled back, standing on top of the coffee table to look Gokudera in the eye. "You should be honored to be in the presence of the Great Lambo!"

"I'll show you honored, you little brat!" Gokudera growled, whipping out a handful of dynamite.

Pulling down one eyelid, Lambo stuck out his tongue. In his other hand, he was already holding another pink grenade.

"It's fine, really," Dino tried to say, raising his hands placatingly. "There's enough room for everyone. Food too. I don't know about the candy though…"

"You stay out of this!" Gokudera and Lambo yelled in tandem.

"Both of you, cut it out," Tsuna said firmly. His tone made them both look at him, surprisingly cowed. "Lambo, I'll get you some candy, since I promised, but after that, you should go home. It's definitely not safe for you to stay with us."

'Not safe for us,' Tsuna added mentally. The last thing they needed was someone as loud as Lambo to draw attention to them.

"But-but I can't go home yet! I haven't beaten Reborn!" Lambo protested.

'That goal is just unreasonable,' all three young men thought at the same time.

"Maybe you misunderstood your orders?" Tsuna suggested. "You should check. Besides, there's no reason you can't visit meanwhile, right?"

Lambo frowned dubiously. "I don't know…" he muttered.

"Your family probably misses you very much," Tsuna cajoled.

Unwilling to give in, Lambo nonetheless wavered. He looked away, fiddling with the tail of his cow jumpsuit, and bit his lip. "I guess I could send them a message," he conceded, grumbling.

He squawked indignantly when Tsuna ruffled his hair with a pleased smile.

~.~.~

Finishing his report, Squalo waited tensely for his leader's reaction. At the head of the massive table, Xanxus took another deep swing of the bottle in his hand then burst into laughter.

"So you failed completely!" he mocked his subordinate. "You got outsmarted by a couple of brats and bit off more than you could chew with that hitman. Pathetic!"

Instincts, honed by both battles and long experience with Xanxus, let Squalo dodge the liquor bottle that was thrown at his head with deadly accuracy. It smashed against the painting on the back wall, no doubt doing terrible damage to the priceless antique.

Next to Squalo, Belphegor stifled a nervous giggle and tried to hide behind Squalo, while Mammon seemed to blend into the shadows a little more, perhaps even preparing an illusion to cover a quick escape, should it become necessary.

Xanxus's laughter cut off suddenly, and his crimson eyes bored into the three Varia members again before focusing on Mammon in particular.

"Hmph, I was right, the one who stole the Sky Ring is the Phantom Thief," Mammon said, a faintly defensive tone creeping in. "I should get a bonus."

"And?" Xanxus prompted, propping his head on one fist.

Mammon shrugged. "It's no good. I still can't get a trace on him even with my Thoughtography, or his little friend. I've traced Reborn instead, but they've definitely parted ways, at least for now."

At the mention of the hitman, Mammon instinctively reached out to touch that special object. After fleeing out of Reborn's range, the illusionist had used another Mammon Chain to bind it again, so there would be no further reaction, even if Reborn decided to go hunting. Still, the close call made Mammon nervous.

The thought of admitting his blunder to Xanxus was even more unsettling.

'And now it's even worse than before,' the illusionist thought. 'At least then, I always got an "X" on my Thoughtography, but now there's no reaction at all.'

Given the Phantom Thief's apparent skills, or lack thereof, in this area, Mammon had deduced that it was Vongola's Sky Ring that blocked all attempts to trace him. Though the illusionist had wisely refrained from presenting this hypothesis to Xanxus, it was clear the Varia's leader had the same thought. His intuition was certainly impressive.

Now, not only was the Sky Ring itself still blocking all tracing attempts, but the stolen Mammon Chain was further working to hide even the ring's own signature, rendering it and its owner completely invisible, psychically.

"Trash," Xanxus sneered, "you're getting a pay cut."

"W-what?!" Mammon stammered. "No way! I did what you hired me to!"

Xanxus's response was to hurl a whiskey glass - at Squalo's head.

"VOI! What are you throwing it at me for?!" Squalo roared, dodging again.

"You were the leader of the mission. It's your responsibility," Xanxus told him.

"You're our leader, so it's all ultimately your responsibility!" Squalo shot back. "Throw things at your own head!"

"Hoh?" Xanxus inquired, unnervingly calm. "But I didn't fail on my part."

His subordinates watched, tensed and ready to duck, as he reached into the pocket of his black coat. Xanxus's red gaze pinned Squalo in place, daring him to dodge again, as the Varia leader casually flicked something into the air. It glimmered and spun, flying in a perfect arc and into Squalo's waiting hands.

Scowling, he turned the object over, only to freeze in surprise.

The teardrop sigil of Vongola's Rain Ring greeted him, glittering in the candle light.

"You managed to get the Guardians' rings from the CEDEF?" Squalo muttered, admiration unwillingly clear in his voice.

Xanxus snorted at the obvious statement, tossing another ring at Belphegor. Darting out to catch it, the prince admired its polished shine and grasped it possessively. "The prince's ring," he mumbled to himself.

"It's not your ring yet, trash," Xanxus said sharply. A golden glow gathered in his other hand, and a small blast of Flames impacted the carpet at Belphegor's feet, sending him scrambling away. "You better not screw up again. If you lose it, I'll bleed you dry myself."

Accepting the insult and threat without protest, Belphegor bowed his head and quickly backed out of the room. Squalo met Xanxus's gaze for a moment longer, before he too bowed and dismissed himself.

~.~.~

Two men were waiting for them in the hallway - the final members of Varia, Levi and Lussuria.

Tall and solidly built, Levi sneered down at Squalo, who glared right back. "You got off easy," Levi said. "You scum deserve a far worse punishment for failing Boss!"

"Shut up," Squalo snapped, narrowing his eyes. "You probably didn't do anything. Admit it, he did all the work getting the rings. You just stood there and looked like dumb muscle."

"It's not like it took much," Lussuria sighed, pushing up his sunglasses - which were entirely out of place in the dimly lit stone hallway. "No one could deny that the CEDEF had failed. And their head wouldn't even meet with us. The choice was obvious." He shrugged theatrically, a mocking smile on his lips.

"You don't deserve to be given rings," Levi continued to grumble. "You're not worthy of being Boss's Guardians."

Pulled out of his contemplation of the Storm Ring, Belphegor glared at Levi, killing intent spiking suddenly. "Mine!" he snarled, the childishness of his words offset by his murderous aura. "You won't take the prince's ring!"

"No one's trying to take your ring, Bel," Lussuria placated him. Slowly, Belphegor relaxed, but only after hissing angrily at Levi, and he continued to clutch the Storm Ring to his chest.

The tense standoff was broken as Mammon glided out of the dining room. The others caught a glimpse of Xanxus, slouched in his massive chair, feet kicked up on the table, gazing contemplatively out the tall windows at the crescent moon outside.

Then, the massive doors slammed shut. Their leader would not rejoin them for a while, instead planning out their next move in solitude. They knew better than to interrupt him.

"How come Mammon gets two rings?" Belphegor asked petulantly in the ensuing silence. His words made everyone turn to stare at the illusionist.

Indeed, Mammon held a ring in each hand, one Mist, the other Cloud.

"You can't hold two rings at the same time," Squalo said, frowning. This was an ironclad rule, but on the other hand, they weren't Guardians yet. The rings were under their protection, not truly in their possession. But why trust Mammon of all people with two rings?

Feeling their negative looks, Mammon huffed quietly. "Relax, I'm not keeping it," the illusionist said, hiding the Mist Ring away. "Xanxus has another use for the Cloud Ring. Or rather, I provided him with one. You can come watch if you want."

With those baiting words, Mammon glided away. Naturally, the others followed.

"Are you going to charge us extra?" Lussuria teased.

"I might," Mammon responded easily. "Xanxus is such a tight-fisted cheapskate."

"Don't talk about Boss like that," Levi growled, only to be ignored. Excessive deference and groveling shows of respect were not particularly valued in the Varia.

"This is about that thing you brought," Squalo said thoughtfully, guessing their destination as they headed deeper into the castle's dungeons.

The door slid open under Mammon's powers, revealing a large, surprisingly dry room. Inside were several pieces of high-tech equipment, linked by trailing cables to a bulky shape hidden under a tarp.

"That's right," Mammon said, floating up to the covered shape and sliding off the tarp. "With the Vongola Cloud Ring, we finally have a means of powering it. This is a one-of-a-kind combat machine, the Gola Mosca. I should charge you extra just for getting a glimpse of it."

"You already got paid for it," Squalo said. He sounded unimpressed, but his gaze was considering as it swept over the squat, thickly armored figure of the Gola Mosca - and its many, many armaments.

"I'm performing this extra service-"

"Activation and setup were included in the fee," Squalo cut Mammon off. "Just get on with it."

Grumbling quietly, the illusionist floated behind the Gola Mosca and unlatched a hidden panel. The behemoth's armor slid open to reveal its mechanical innards, a mess of wires, tubes and other mysterious devices. In the center was a large purple cube with a hole in the top.

With one last glance at the Cloud Ring and a regretful thought - 'Imagine how much I could sell it for...' - Mammon inserted it into the opening and swiftly backed away.

The other Varia members had expected to hear a dull clink as the ring hit the bottom of the cube. However, the sound didn't come. Instead, electricity sparked inside the Gola Mosca, running along the edges of the cube, which had begun to glow faintly.

Just as Mammon got out of the way, the Gola Mosca's armor slid shut again, locking in place with several resounding clangs. Hot air blasted out of concealed vents, and something whirled inside. Light flared in its artificial eyes, and the behemoth slowly uncurled, straightening to its full height.

"Good, good, it's working," Mammon mumbled.

"I guess we'll finally see if your little wind-up puppet is worth anything," Levi grumbled. Once again, he was ignored.

"Where did you even get something like this?" Lussuria wondered, tentatively knocking against the Gola Mosca's armor. It echoed metallically, and its massive head slowly turned toward him. Fortunately, it made no move to attack. The Varia members had been preprogrammed in as allied units.

"Before joining the Varia, I was a freelancer," Mammon said. "I still have connections from back then, to some interesting people in the business."

"Interesting is one way of putting it," Squalo muttered, his sharp eyes still on the Gola Mosca. 'I've never even heard of anything like this. Where did Mammon really get it from? For that matter, where did Mammon come from? What did he do before joining the Varia? We never did find any record of him. I can't believe we're going to trust that thing, and Mammon too. What is he thinking?'

Or was Xanxus past the point of rational thought?

"Some metal golem is no match for the prince," Belphegor said dismissively. "But I suppose it'll do until we find a real seventh member."

Squalo snorted, but he couldn't quite shake away his heavy thoughts. Something about the entire situation gave him an uneasy feeling.

~.~.~

A melodic chime echoed through the apartment, making Tsuna look up in surprise. When it sounded again, he checked his cell phone and then the rest of his pockets, just in case he'd picked up someone else's phone by accident.

The chime rang out once more, making Tsuna frown, perplexed.

"It's the doorbell, Kaitou-sama," Gokudera told him. He was frowning as well. "But we shouldn't be getting any visitors. No one is supposed to even know we're here."

Something about the situation seemed very familiar. Tsuna shrugged. 'Maybe it's a door to door salesman,' he thought, making his way to the entry hall.

"Coming! One moment!" Tsuna called out, over the ringing of the doorbell. In a move that would have had Reborn rebuking him as a suicidal amateur, he didn't even stop to check the peephole and simply yanked the door open.

On the other side of the doorway stood a large box with legs. "Hey there, Kaitou!" Dino greeted him from behind the massive package, having picked up Gokudera's method of address.

"Oh, Dino! Come it!" Tsuna said, quickly opening the door wider and scrambling out of the way. "What's with the box? It looks heavy."

"Heh, yeah. It's from the Bovino Family," Dino explained as he slowly began to totter into the apartment. "It just arrived, so I brought- Argh!"

His foot caught on the threshold, and both Dino and the box went flying. With a startled shriek, Tsuna flattened himself against the wall, letting the box sail past while Dino himself faceplanted into the flagstones.

As the parcel hit the floor, it burst open, spilling out a bevy of pink grenades, two rocket launchers, and a pistol. Tsuna stared at the weapons, perplexed, before shaking his head and offering his hand to Dino. The young Cavallone boss laughed awkwardly as Tsuna pulled him to his feet.

"Sorry about that," he said sheepishly.

"It's fine," Tsuna said, grinning in return. "Thanks for bringing it up."

Drawn by the noise, both Lambo and Gokudera had appeared. "Yes! It came!" Lambo cheered, immediately running to the box and beginning to happily dig through the weapons.

Following at a more sedate pace, Gokudera also crouched beside the open parcel and picked up one of the bombs inside. After the fight with the Varia, he had run a little low on dynamite, but given their situation, he hadn't wanted to draw attention by attempting to restock. The Bovino bombs were not quite his usual fare, but he could make due with them, Gokudera supposed, weighing the explosives in his hand thoughtfully.

"Hey! Get your own, Stupidera!" Lambo protested, shoving Gokudera roughly. His ridiculous strength shone through once more, sending Gokudera - who was a couple weight classes above Lambo - almost flying.

However, Gokudera recovered easily and retaliated by driving his fist into Lambo's skull. "I'm low because of the mess you got us into!" he snarled. "And you owe us for letting you stay here! Show some gratitude!"

"That aside, why did your family send you weapons, Lambo?" Tsuna asked, frowning. "What exactly did you tell them in your letter?"

"Don't worry about it!" Lambo declared, puffing himself up. "The Great Lambo got everything he needs!"

'Wait, so they really are encouraging him to take on Reborn?' Tsuna thought, pinching the bridge of his nose as he felt a headache begin to build. 'What kind of family is this?'

"There's a letter," Gokudera noted, fishing a piece of paper out of the box.

"That's mine!" Lambo yelled.

"It's addressed to Kaitou-sama!" Gokudera shot back.

'Wait, what?'

Lambo tried to lunge for it, but Tsuna plucked it out of Gokudera's grasp, unfortunately leaving his follower to take the full force of Lambo's charge in the stomach.

As Tsuna scanned the letter, his expression grew more and more disbelieving.

"To the dastardly Phantom Thief," Dino read off over Tsuna's shoulder, "in exchange for the safety of our Lambo, whom you have so brazenly kidnapped, we have obeyed your demands with all speed. His well-being is our highest priority. Enclosed find our latest weapons, as you requested... It's signed by the Boss of the Bovino Famiglia."

"W-what kind of slander is that?!" Gokudera demanded, wincing as he shoved Lambo off his stomach. "Kaitou-sama didn't kidnap this brat! He's the one tailing us!"

"Lambo, what did you write to them?!" Tsuna yelled, crumbling the letter in his hand.

The boy laughed obnoxiously. "The Great Lambo didn't write to them! You did!" When Tsuna tried to protest, Lambo explained, "I signed as the Phantom Thief and told them that you took their future Boss hostage, so they should send more weapons! Now I have everything I need to take on stupid Reborn when he arrives!"

With a frustrated yell, Tsuna threw the crumpled up letter at Lambo's head, then buried his face in his hands and moaned.

"How dare you ruin Kaitou-sama's reputation!" Gokudera roared. He lunged for Lambo, who scrambled out of the way and ran deeper into the apartment, while Gokudera gave chase.

Sighing, Tsuna muttered, "Just what I need, a whole mafia Family gunning for me."

Dino patted him sympathetically on the back. "It's okay. It'll work out," he said. "...Probably."

"How?" Tsuna wondered grumpily. "They seem pretty worried about him. They sent whatever he requested, quickly too..."

Tsuna paused. Wasn't there something weird about that thought? The Bovino Family had answered Lambo's bogus kidnapping letter quickly and with apparent concern. But hadn't they also sent the same boy on a completely impossible mission, that was basically certain death?

Except that it wasn't. It was guaranteed to fail, but…

'Reborn… isn't a cruel person,' Tsuna thought. It was true. The hitman was sadistic and infuriating. He didn't hesitate to use brute force to bully people into doing things his way. But no matter how Tsuna looked at it, he couldn't imagine Reborn ever killing a kid just for being annoying. He couldn't imagine Reborn fighting Lambo with the intent to kill, period.

If anything, back then, Tsuna had subconsciously assumed that Reborn would protect Lambo from being killed by the Varia.

It was a guaranteed fail mission, but the actual danger was low - by mafia standards anyway.

"Hey Dino," Tsuna said slowly, "what are the Bovino like?"

"The Bovino? They're a small family," Dino replied, a little perplexed, but happy to help. "They specialize in weapons development and manufacturing. They're neutral, not part of the Vongola alliance, and they mostly keep to themselves. I only met them a couple times, but they seemed like a good sort."

"Haaaah," Tsuna sighed. "I see. So that's how it is." Catching Dino's confused look, he smiled crookedly and explained, "They probably expected Lambo to give up and come home, after getting a taste of what the outside world and a real opponent are like. I guess they didn't count on how stubborn he is."

But then, who could predict something like that? Lambo's sheer bullheadedness defined all sense and reason.

Dino laughed. "Trial by Reborn? That's just cruel!" he said. "But I guess in a way, Reborn was also my introduction into the business." He cringed, remembering something painful. Tsuna could only imagine.

"...How did you meet Reborn?" Tsuna ventured.

"He was hired to protect me when I first took over as Cavallone Boss, after my father died," Dino explained. "I was… unprepared, to put it mildly. But Reborn made I didn't get assassinated within the first month of taking over, and he even whipped me into shape. Well, that was probably because he didn't want to babysit me forever."

Dino's grin was infectious, and, tentatively, Tsuna smiled back. However, the expression faded quickly.

"And that's why you're helping me like this, even though you might get in a lot of trouble," Tsuna said, looking away and drooping a little, "with the Vongola and the Varia, and this entire succession mess, and stuff."

For a moment, Dino looked surprised. Then, chuckling lightly, he reached out to ruffle Tsuna's hair. His hand was warm and surprisingly strong. Somehow, Tsuna couldn't help looking up at the Cavallone Boss with a faint flush.

"Don't worry about me," Dino said. He flushed a little too, looking away and scratching at his cheek. "I'm actually pretty happy that Reborn would trust me with something like this. I feel like he's finally acknowledging me as a Boss. The Cavallone Family is Vongola's greatest ally. It's only right that we help protect Vongola's future."

"...You… really sounded like a Boss there," Tsuna said, ducking his head.

Dino laughed, embarrassed but pleased, and threw his arm over Tsuna's shoulder.

Again, Tsuna couldn't help smiling in return, but his thoughts remained heavy. He wondered if Dino really understood how high the stakes were and how much trouble he - and his entire Family - could end up in for even the suspicion of helping the person who stole Vongola's Sky Ring.

Did Lambo understand? What about Gokudera?

It was fine for Reborn, who outclassed even the Varia by a margin as wide as the space between Earth and the Ranking Star. But Tsuna couldn't forget seeing Lambo cowering in the shadows of the destroyed street and Gokudera being struck down by Squalo.

What would happen the next time the Varia caught up with them - with him? What if they found him here, in this apartment?

Where would Lambo hide? Under the couch where they had all ended up falling asleep together the first night? In the cupboard where Gokudera tried to hide the last of the good ration bars when they started running low?

Would the knives really be poisoned this time? What if Dino was the one cut down in the next battle?

Tsuna was scared for himself, without a doubt, but he was good at running away. He was good at surviving, and he had escaped from enemies that absolutely terrified him before. He had been foolish to assume that he would never be tracked down, never have to face combat.

And in battle, there was always a chance of everything going wrong. Someone always had to lose, and sometimes, everyone did.

He had overestimated himself.

...Or had he? In the end, he wasn't the one who had been followed.

Tsuna jumped a little as Dino's grip tightened around his shoulder. He looked up into the Cavallone Boss's warm brown eyes, which were far more knowing than Tsuna had expected.

"Hey," Dino said quietly, "you know what the hardest thing about being a Boss is? It's trusting your Family. That's what I've learned. It's scary, knowing that people are going to get hurt because they chose to trust and help you. But it's also the most important. You have to trust in them, in their decision to follow you. All you can do is fight with your Dying Will, to make sure their trust in you is not misplaced."

"Maybe that's what the mafia is like," Tsuna whispered, "but I'm just a thief."

Under his shirt, the Vongola Sky Ring pulsed warmly. Whether in agreement or protest, he didn't know.

~.~.~

The next morning, Tsuna was gone.

There was white card on the coffee table, with a short message in the Phantom Thief's handwriting. It was addressed to Dino.

"Please look after Gokudera," Dino read off, "and Lambo."

He sighed. In one of the bedrooms, he could hear Hurricane Bomb Hayato beginning to stir. There was no doubt things would turn ugly once he woke up and discovered his Kaitou-sama gone.

Dino had heard of Gokudera. Most of the mafia world had. A few years back, Gokudera had been rather famous for his explosive temper, his equally explosive dynamite, his almost obsessive stubbornness, and his absolute inability to obey anyone.

The first three out of four were definitely still present, to Dino's despair. Thinking about it, the fourth was probably also still there, just in a different form.

There was no doubt Gokudera would try to find the Phantom Thief. He wouldn't sit quietly, no matter how much Dino assured him that it was Tsuna's for him to stay safe. But then, that was loyalty too - not just obeying blindly, but always trying to do well by the Boss.

No matter what Tsuna thought, he was Gokudera's Boss. And privately, Dino thought he'd make a good one. After all, he already had the _other_ most important thing down - caring for his Family.

No matter what Tsuna thought, he had a Family, even if it was still small.

Now, whether or not Gokudera would succeed in finding his Boss was another matter entirely. After all, the Phantom Thief hadn't left any clues about where he was going.

Dino sighed again. "Reborn's going to kill me," he bemoaned. "Or at least put me in remedial training."

~.~.~

**Notes**

Q: Cavallone or Chiavarone?  
A: I'm using Cavallone because I'm almost entirely incapable of spelling the other option. It just doesn't look natural to me, though I realize it's the official spelling, going by the subs.

Q: What's up with Xanxus?  
A: No idea. Maybe the Cradle Incident never happened in this world? I dunno. (That's the level of writing and planning you're in for, by the way - by the seat of my pants, making it up as I go.)

Q: What's up with Lambo and his family?  
A: You know, maybe it's the kinds of stories I read, but Lambo's family is usually neglectful, abusive or outright murderous. In this lighter and softer AU, I didn't want to go in that direction. And I do think that Reborn (in this story, at least) has his own moral code that would preclude killing brats just for getting on his nerves. He'd still beat them up for stress relief, of course.

Q: Will we see more of Dino?  
A: Unfortunately, he's like Fuuta, a side character. There's not really much room or reason for him to appear again. Keep in mind, this story, as it is currently planned, will have 15 chapters (though that may expand as we hit the final stretch). So we're almost halfway through. I want to keep a good pace going, so limiting the number of active characters is very important.

Wow, an entire chapter of nothing but flapping mouths. But this is an important transition! Next chapter is actually also transition, before we hit the second half of the story. But there will be some emotional stuff, and maybe a few teasing hints of answers about the Arcobaleno situation. Maybe.

Also, please remember to review. Last chapter had a rather disappointing draw. Is it because of the holidays or is the story going downhill? I'm starting to worry.

~.~.~

_Next time: Sawada Tsunayoshi_

~.~.~


	7. En route

~.~.~

**Phantom Thief Decimo**

_Previously: The Varia obtained the remaining six rings and distributed them among their members. Meanwhile, Tsuna, Gokudera and Lambo regrouped at a safe house belonging to the Cavallone Family. But, worried about endangering the people around him, Tsuna chose to go on alone._

~.~.~

"...ordered me not to disturb the peace of the residents of Namimori!" Iemitsu's voice came over the telephone. "Can you believe that? I'm a resident of Namimori too!"

Nono listened patiently, but he could see Reborn growing more and more restless where he waited on the other side of the Vongola Boss's office.

"I see," Timoteo said, "but, Iemitsu, have you made any progress?"

There was a long silence on the other end of the line. "...Not as such," Iemitsu admitted. "We haven't been able to trace his calls to Nana, and he didn't tell anyone where he was going."

"Are there any further leads for you to pursue in Namimori?" Nono asked.

The silence was even longer this time, as Iemitsu realized where this conversation was going. "...No," he said finally. "There's nothing here."

"Then return to Italy. We've already had to concede the remaining rings to the Varia," Nono said, his tone even and firm. "With the way things are, the Vongola needs the Outside Adviser present and visible, or things will degenerate even faster."

"But Ninth!" Iemitsu protested. "There's no sign that Tsuna left Japan! He must still be here somewhere. I have the best chance of finding him!"

"Do you? Is there some special knowledge you have that will aid you? Do you know something about him that no one else does?" Nono inquired.

Iemitsu didn't reply.

"Then leave the search to our more discrete agents and return to Italy," Nono ordered.

"Yes, Boss," Iemitsu finally acquiesced.

The dial tone followed immediately as he hung up without so much as a goodbye.

"About time," Reborn remarked, his tone even sharper than usual after he had to deal with Iemitsu's "whining."

Nono carefully replaced the handset and steepled his fingers. "Are you sure the Phantom Thief will head to Japan?" he asked Reborn.

He hadn't lied - he did need Iemitsu back in Italy to keep the Family and their allies calm. However, Timoteo had another reason. The Varia were no doubt beginning to suspect something. They would search for the Outside Adviser, and if the Phantom Thief was truly coming to Japan, then it was best if the Varia had no reason to cast their gaze there.

Reborn nodded, jerkily. Despite his generally cool demeanor, he was clearly tense and unhappy. Displeased, Timoteo judged. 'How dare that amateur go off on his own and try to leave me behind,' he seemed to be thinking. 'And after I told him to stay put!'

He did so hate being disobeyed. Nono could only imagine the sort of tongue-lashing young Dino had been forced to endure when he first reported the Phantom Thief's departure.

"I'm certain," Reborn said, rather snappy at being doubted. "He left the others behind, so now he's going to try to disappear. Being the Phantom Thief is no longer safe, but there is still another mask to peal away. He's going to try to go back to who he used to be, before he became the Phantom Thief. He's going to Japan."

Nono frowned thoughtfully. There was something nagging at him. "Perhaps he's from another branch of Primo's line," he mused. It was possible. In truth, they knew little about what Primo had done after he passed the Family to his successor. "Though it does not matter much in the end."

"Because of the ranking you got from the Ranking Prince?" Reborn said, his tone carefully blank.

Still, Timoteo could clearly hear the hidden meanings in that question. "That is part of the reason," he admitted, "but the rest still applies. A thief and an outsider would not have the legitimacy necessary to unite the family. The alliance would fracture."

"And Iemitsu's son was first on the list?" Reborn confirmed. He frowned. "Then what was that reaction? Why rip up the copy of the ranking?"

"It's something about Iemitsu," Nono said slowly. He had almost forgotten the Thief's strange hesitation at the mention of the Outside Adviser. A Japanese boy, with some relationship with Iemitsu. Iemitsu, whose son had been missing since six months before the Phantom Thief's first appearance.

It all fit.

'I really am getting old, to not see it sooner.'

Reborn raised an eyebrow in surprise as Timoteo suddenly threw his head back and laughed deeply.

~.~.~

**Chapter 7: En route ~ No Respect Among Thieves**

~.~.~

When Tsuna first decided to travel to Italy, he had briefly considered doing it legally - getting a passport, buying a plane ticket, going through customs...

He had quickly discarded that idea. Tsuna hadn't been certain how far the mafia's power reached, or how much he was being observed, but he had wanted his visit to be a... surprise. He hadn't wanted any record of him coming, no warning to Iemitsu. He had imagined his father's shocked face when Tsuna confronted him, catching him completely off-guard.

Well, it hadn't gone like that. Tsuna had wimped out at the last moment, and his father had never even realized that Tsuna had come to Italy.

The point was, Tsuna had not left Japan through legal means. Instead, he had stowed away on a cargo ship - and then another, changing ships at each port until he finally reached Italy. It had been nerve-wracking, cold and miserable - hiding out among the shipping containers, avoiding the crew and customs officials, stealing food, when it turned out he had miscalculated how much he would need.

Now, after his time as the Phantom a Thief, he knew a few good forgers, so getting a fake passport wouldn't have been difficult, but Tsuna was feeling nostalgic. (And, of course, it was also safer not to leave any trail at all.)

He decided to return to Japan the same way he had left - by boat.

It was time to set aside the Phantom Thief and go home, where it was safe and peaceful.

However, Tsuna had no intention of going back to being just Dame-Tsuna. He wasn't going to huddle in the cargo hold, freezing and miserable. He was going to travel in style.

Sneaking on to a cruise ship was simple, first posing as part of the crew, running around in last minute preparations, then as a passenger, wandering the ship. Since the holiday season was only just beginning, there were plenty of open rooms for him to use, and the casino, the pool on the second deck and even the dining room were always available to the passengers.

Still, all the glitz and excitement wore off quickly.

He had come to the ship's casino with the vague idea of enjoying himself - he was there, so why not? But the loud, flashy press of bodies was beginning to feel stifling, and Tsuna began to drift away from the other passengers, first trying to find a quiet corner, then giving up and making his way outside.

Stepping out onto the deck, Tsuna breathed a sigh of relief. He had been alone more often than not, and being around so many people, all so loud and high-spirited, was just too… crowded.

The thought made his lips quirk up in a smile. Taking a deep breath of the ocean air, Tsuna told himself, 'I'm going home. I'm going to see Namimori, and Mom, and Hibari-sempai, and Haru. I can finally relax and just rest.'

He'd return the Vongola Sky Ring, of course, but...

"This is it," Tsuna said to himself and the open air. "We had some fun times. It was… really fun. Acting freely and boldly, being without fear or restrictions, living without regrets... I'll treasure those memories, even if this long masquerade is coming to an end. It's time. Goodbye, Phantom Thief."

He held up the flute of champagne in his hand to the night sky, the dark sea, and the pale moon.

The moment was interrupted just as Tsuna lifted the glass to his lips. The door leading into the casino room slammed open, letting the cacophony of voices and music flood out onto the deck. Jumping with a startled squeak, Tsuna fumbled with the champagne flute and lost his grip. He watched it flip soundlessly through the air until it finally disappeared into the dark, foam-flecked waters below.

'Way to ruin a moment,' Tsuna sighed to himself.

Straightening, he glanced over his shoulder at the sudden intruder.

The sight that greeted him made Tsuna pale.

He tried to spin away and mime hurling over the railing - a tried and true method for being left alone - but it was too late.

"Kaitou-sama..." Gokudera said slowly. "It's really you, Kaitou-sama!" His entire expression brightened, and he took a step toward Tsuna.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about," Tsuna lied, edging away. As Gokudera took another step, Tsuna ducked around him and dashed back into the casino.

"Kaitou-sama!" he heard Gokudera call again behind him, before the noise of the casino room swallowed up his voice.

'Why is he here?' Tsuna wondered desperately, sliding through the crowd. 'How did he even know? This is exactly what I was trying to avoid!'

Certain he had lost Gokudera in the crowd, Tsuna surreptitiously moved toward the emergency exit. It would easy for him to momentarily disable the alarm and slip out of the casino. The emergency stairs led down to the lower decks, including the crew and cargo areas, where Tsuna would be able to hide - and to tell when someone was coming.

Just as he reached for the door handle, a hand slammed against the wall next to his head.

"Hiieee!" Tsuna let out a startled shriek and spun around. "Go-Go-Gokudera?!"

"Kaitou-sama, please listen to me!" Gokudera insisted.

"I don't know how or why you're here, but you shouldn't have come," Tsuna said, turning his head to the side and bringing up one hand to shield his eyes.

"I followed you," Gokudera said, refusing to budge. "It was easy to figure out where you'd go. I know how Kaitou-sama thinks and acts. Don't you understand, Kaitou-sama? I'll follow you anywhere. That's what I decided. That's the proof of my loyalty."

"You're the one who doesn't understand. Having you follow me around is just going make things more difficult for me! Go home," Tsuna hissed, trying to duck around Gokudera.

However, just as Tsuna finally managed to get free, a sudden scream made him stumble. As Tsuna pinwheeled his arms in an attempt to keep his balance and Gokudera quickly propped him up, the crowd if front of them shifted uneasily.

"My pearls! They're gone!" a woman wailed, at the center of the commotion.

More startled cries followed, as other passengers reflexively checked their own belongings.

"My watch!"

"My diamonds!"

"Thief! There's a thief!"

Gokudera and Tsuna exchanged a look.

"It wasn't me!" Tsuna hissed, correctly interpreting Gokudera's expression. "...Probably." Straightening, he started patting down his pockets, just to make sure. There were a few extra key cards and IDs from employees, as well as one of their small hand radios, but for the most part, Tsuna had carefully kept tight control of himself. "I wouldn't do amateur work like that," he grumbled. 'No matter what Reborn says.'

The crew members in the casino were moving quickly to deal with the situation, before the unrest worsened. A few moved to block the exits, while others began asking the passengers to stay calm and check their belongings, while surreptitiously herding them together and looking out for any suspicious stranglers.

'They're going to start checking the passenger list,' Tsuna guessed. 'We'd better get out of here...'

Fortunately, the crew wouldn't think to immediately cover the emergency exit, relying on the automatic alarm. Without thinking, Tsuna grasped Gokudera's wrist and pulled him toward the door.

Disabling the alarm took barely a moment, and the two of them slipped into the cool, dark stairwell beyond. "Should we go down to the cargo decks?" Gokudera asked, almost whispering in the silent, slightly stale air.

"No need," Tsuna decided, snorting a little. "With that kind of messy work, the thief'll probably get caught in no time. Let's just wait it out." Fishing around in his pocket, he pulled out the radio handset and turned it off mute.

Crackling static and rushed updates from the radio echoed in the empty stairwell. Sitting with radio between them on the landing, Gokudera and Tsuna could both feel the heavy, uncomfortable silence pressing down on them.

"Kaitou-sama," Gokudera began uncertainly, while Tsuna pointedly looked away. "Kaitou-sama, what you asked... I can't do that. I can't go home. There isn't any place like that for me. To me... home is chasing after Kaitou-sama, following in your footsteps, watching your exploits."

"...Is chasing after the Phantom Thief really that exciting?" Tsuna wondered. "It was fun, but... it was just a performance. None of it was real."

"It was real to me. That night was real. Meeting you was real. What you gave me... What I learned from you, all of that is real," Gokudera said, quietly but firmly.

'What you learned from me?' Tsuna thought, sighing quietly. 'What could you possibly have learned?'

"Living a life that isn't bound by the rules of the mafia," Gokudera said, almost absently, staring up into the shadowed ceiling. "Following your own sense of justice, no matter what anyone says. Showing kindness... that kindness is also a kind of strength. All of those things, I learned from you. And also... how to be happy. All of that... it's real to me."

Tsuna had turned slowly to stare at him, wide-eyed. He was too surprised to even blush at the praise. When Gokudera met his gaze evenly, Tsuna found himself unable to look away.

"Are you saying," Gokudera continued, "that nothing you did held any meaning for you? That you were just playing a trick on all those people you helped? That you put nothing of yourself in it?"

'No, that's not true... I... I meant all those things. I didn't do them just for profit or just for excitement,' Tsuna thought.

"I can't believe that," Gokudera said firmly. "You are not that sort of person. I might not know your name, or your face, or who you were before, but I know who you are now. The Phantom Thief is only part of that. Kaitou-sama is Kaitou-sama. To me, Kaitou-sama is..."

As if suddenly realizing what he was saying, Gokudera trailed off and flushed heavily. As he glanced away, trying to hide his red face, Tsuna felt himself blushing too.

'The person I am now... I guess if anyone would know, it would be Gokudera,' he thought, smiling faintly. 'Mom, Haru, everyone back home... they might know who I used to be, but I... I've changed, even just a little. I'm not the same Dame-Tsuna anymore.'

"Gokudera, I..."

"Kaitou-sama, I..."

Both of them tried to speak at the same time, only to both fall silent, fidgeting uneasily. When the radio suddenly burst into static, they both jumped and looked down at it with a sense of relief.

"I've got one! A stowaway here on deck two!" the radio crackled. The crewman at the other end grunted and swore, his breath coming heavily. "I'm in pursuit! That stupid cow brat is fast!"

"Cow... brat?" Tsuna muttered.

He turned slowly to stare at Gokudera, who had paled and broken out in cold sweat.

Meeting Tsuna's eyes, Gokudera laughed nervously.

"Well, you see, Kaitou-sama, it's like this..."

~.~.~

"You seriously couldn't lose him somewhere?" Tsuna complained yet again, as they tried to make their way across deck five both swiftly and stealthily. There were crew members everywhere, no doubt in pursuit of the same target, and peering around the corner, Tsuna had to duck back quickly or be spotted.

"He's like a leech," Gokudera said darkly. "Even Mr. Reborn hasn't been able to lose him."

Tsuna paused, then shrugged. That was true.

Tsuna, Gokudera, and the crewmen nearby all froze in their tracks as a faint, distant boom reverberated through the ship, making the fancy light fixtures on the walls rattle.

"What was that?" one of the crew asked.

"You think we hit something?" another wondered. "Like... an iceberg?"

"No way! Come on, you'll jinx us!"

Tsuna and Gokudera exchanged a look. They knew what that was. That was one of Lambo's grenades.

'It came from the stern!' Tsuna thought, taking off, all thoughts of stealth forgotten in the face of scenarios involving Lambo, explosives, and the side of the ship. More specifically, the side of the ship acquiring a new hole.

"Over here!" Gokudera called out, taking the lead once they came closer. With his better understanding of explosives, he could guess Lambo's location better than Tsuna.

Indeed, it wasn't long before the sounds of Lambo's obnoxious gloating reached them.

"Gyahaha," the brat was laughing, "that's what you get for messing with the Great Lambo!"

Rounding the corner, Tsuna and Gokudera saw him standing over a crewman, proudly holding up his weapon case and also another grenade.

"You-you little freak!" the crewman unwisely hissed.

Lambo's lower lip trembled for a moment before his expression transformed into a furious scowl. "You'll be sorry you made fun of the Great Lambo!" the child yelled, carelessly yanking out the pin in his pink grenade.

"Lambo!" Tsuna yelled, running up to him.

Yanking the grenade out of his hand, Tsuna tossed it overboard, and not a moment too soon. Seeing the explosion just off the ship's side, the crowds on the upper decks ooh-ed in wonder.

Gokudera drove his fist into Lambo's skull, grinding it down despite the boy's wailing. "What're you thinking, you stupid cow?" he growled. "I told you not to use weapons on the ship!"

"That guy was being a jerk! He tried to drag me off somewhere!" Lambo protested, sniffling. "Auntie Ottavo said to definitely blow up anyone who did that!"

It didn't help that the man left scowling up at them from the deck looked like a distinctly unsavory sort, with close shaved hair, a scar over one eye and the face of a thug.

"You're all freaks!" the crewman snarled. "I'll make sure they throw you lunatics off the boat!"

Bursting into tears, Lambo heaved his cello case over his head and pointed the narrow section straight at the crewman. 'Wait, isn't that the rocket launcher part?' Tsuna thought.

"Meanie! I'll show you!" Lambo wailed. A round section slid open, confirming Tsuna's fears.

"Lambo, no!" Tsuna yelled, grabbing hold of the cello case and trying to pull it away from the boy - or at least point it away from the ship.

Pounding footsteps heralded the approach of more crew members, finally catching up to Lambo. 'If they catch us with the weapons, it's over,' Tsuna thought, panicking. 'We'll never be able to explain that!'

There was only one thing to do.

"Sorry, Lambo," Tsuna apologized. "But this thing's got to go!"

Heaving the case up with all this might, Tsuna managed to fling it over the railing, into the sea below. Lambo stared after it in shock, too stunned to even cry.

A moment later, they were surrounded by the crew, and the thug-faced man Lambo had threatened was pointing at all three of them accusingly. "They're with that brat! They're all stowaways!" he declared. Sighing, Tsuna held up his hands and let himself get dragged away.

~.~.~

The three of them were dragged before the captain, an older man with a fluffy beard that made Tsuna think of his middle school principle. Probably the most memorable thing about the man had been his ability to remain completely calm in the face of the school's demon prefect - which was also probably what got him his job.

"You have no identification, and you aren't on the passenger manifest," one of the captain's aides declared, staring down at the three of them. "You're clearly the stowaways we've been looking for. Now tells what you did with the things you stole, and we might bother feeding you before we reach port."

"Now, now, Ichiro," the captain said, stroking his beard. "None of that. Let's hear what they have to say before we make any judgements."

"How dare you accuse us?!" Gokudera raged in response. "We're passengers just like everyone else here! Our stuff got stolen too, and I want to see this passenger manifest of yours myself! I'll sue you for this harassment!"

Tsuna watched him turn the situation around, honestly impressed. 'Way to go, Gokudera,' he thought.

"Passengers?! Don't screw with me!" the thug-faced crewman yelled back. "This brat threw a grenade at me!"

"Huuuh?" Gokudera drew out, like a true punk. "What are you talking about? You see any grenades? How would a kid get something like that? See, this man is completely delusional. He was practically threatening to beat this kid up."

"A grenade is rather far-fetched," Ichiro, the captain's assistant, agreed, pushing up his glasses. "It's just the stress getting to Jiro. It must have been fireworks, but those are illegal as well."

"You see any fireworks? Don't go accusing us when you've got no evidence!" Gokudera sneered.

"We also have a witness," Ichiro pressed on, gesturing to one of the waitstaff, a young man with stylish long hair. "Saburo here saw you two in the casino, skulking around near the emergency exit. You must have used it to escape after you stole from the passengers."

The passengers, who had been confined to the casino, began to shift agitatedly, murmuring to each other. It felt like having a growing mob at their backs.

"Now, confess! What did you do with their belongings?" Ichiro continued whipping the crowd into a frenzy.

"We haven't done anything-!" Gokudera insisted, though it was clear the tide had turned against him. Between him and Tsuna, Lambo sniffled. It was probably for the best that he was still too distraught to say anything.

Tsuna had been watching Ichiro and the crewman, Jiro, something about the pair bothering him. As his gaze shifted to Saburo, it all slid into place, and he sighed in annoyance.

"Why did you assume that the thief is a stowaway?" Tsuna asked, his clear voice cutting through Gokudera's protests and the crowds murmuring.

Ichiro gaped for a moment, thrown off by the questions. Recovering, he smirked and pushed up his glasses. "Are you accusing one of our passengers? How shameful!"

"What makes you think it's a passenger?" Tsuna asked again, his cool gaze making Ichiro twitch. "For a job like this, it would be easier to act as part of the crew, with access to more areas and able to come and go as they please. A server, for example."

His gaze turned on Saburo, who gulped. "W-what are you saying? There's no way we'd miss a stowaway pretending to be one of us!" he insisted.

"You're the one who's assuming the thief is a stowaway," Tsuna said, his eyes narrowing.

"Of course it must be a stowaway!" Ichiro said. "No member of our crew would do something like that."

"Then you won't have any problem proving it," Tsuna said decisively. "Empty out your pockets. You've got nothing to hide, right? You can go first... Saburo, wasn't it?"

Tsuna already knew he wouldn't. The bulge in his pockets was telltale.

"What? Why should I? You're the one who's under suspicion here!" Saburo snapped, already swearing heavily.

'Amateur,' Tsuna thought, huffing. Keeping his expression impassive, he didn't hesitate to stand up and turn out his pockets. They were empty, of course. He'd stashed his small cache along the way.

Following his lead, Gokudera did the same. Fortunately, he didn't keep his dynamite in his pockets anyway, and Tsuna had swiped his wallet and lighter earlier, so all that came up was a collapsible pocket telescope and a couple of grape candies.

At Tsuna's blank look, Gokudera shrugged. It kept the cow brat quiet, at least for a short while.

Tsuna had been ready to press Saburo again, but he didn't need to. Instead, one of the other waiters nudged him. "Man, just do it," he hissed to Saburo. "No one's gonna care if you were sneaking a cigarette or something."

"Come on, hurry up," someone else agreed, showing Saburo into the open circle around Tsuna, Gokudera and Lambo. He was one of the defendants now.

"This is ridiculous!" Saburo yelled. "Are you really going to believe these criminals?!" He looked around frantically, searching for support, but all the eyes on him were impatient and growing suspicious. The crowd was beginning to whisper again.

Ichiro and Jiro both tensed, Tsuna noted, as Saburo reached his breaking point, about to try to run at any moment.

Tsuna didn't let him, stepping forward and reaching into his pocket. Even as Saburo squawked in protest, Tsuna pulled out a diamond pendant and a pearl necklace. He held the jewels up to the light, letting the crowd see.

"My pearls!"

"My diamonds!"

Pulling away from Tsuna, Saburo turned desperately to Jiro, then Ichiro.

"T-that is unfortunate," Ichiro said, swallowing heavily. "But it doesn't change the fact that you're stowaways and have no right to be on this ship."

"According to what, the passenger manifest you altered?" Tsuna said, crossing his arms.

"That's a heavy accusation!" Ichiro protested.

"Weren't you the one who got him this job?" Tsuna asked, pointing at Saburo. He was just guessing, but judging by the way Ichiro winced and the captain's eyes narrowed, he had been entirely right. "You alter records to have them pose as part of the crew, and when the thefts are discovered, you him find some scapegoat to blame everything on!" Tsuna pointed to Jiro, who scowled and raised his fists threateningly.

"That's preposterous!" Ichiro yelled. "Captain, you can't possibly believe this nonsense!"

"Whether I believe it or not isn't important, Ichiro," the captain said, sighing. "Saburo was caught stealing. We have to investigate properly. Call up the home office and have them send a new copy of everything, including the passenger manifest and the crew records." He paused, then added, "And for any outstanding warrants for thieves matching their description."

Until that last point, they had managed to keep their cool. But the captain's last remark - probably a bluff - made Saburo and Jiro snap. The younger thief tried to run, while the older thug tried to attack.

Neither was successful. Slipping his foot between Saburo's ankles, Tsuna sent him tripping to the carpeted floor. At the same time, Gokudera easily grabbed the fist Jiro tried to plant in the nearest crewman's face and twisted it harshly behind him back.

Only Ichiro was left standing among the thieves, shaking with both anger and fear.

"Well, I'm glad the truth came out so neatly," the captain commented blandly, gesturing for the security guards to take the three men away. Stroking his beard, he turned his gaze on the three stowaways instead. "Now, about you..."

Gokuder and Tsuna exchanged a look. In the euphoria of dealing out justice, they had forgotten about their own position.

The captain smiled suddenly. "I deeply apologize for the inconvenience, dear passengers," he said lightly. "Naturally, we will upgrade you to our special suite."

"Captain, we still haven't confirmed their identities," one of the other crew members said. "It'll take some time to hear from the home office..."

"There's no need for that," the captain said, waving away the protests. "These people were not only wrongfully accused, but also helped us discover the real culprits. Doubting them now would be beyond disrespectful, wouldn't you say?"

The look he gave Tsuna from under his bushy eyebrows was knowing, but also understanding. Tsuna smiled back. 'All's well that ends well, after all.'

~.~.~

However, there was one issue that had unfortunately not neatly resolved itself.

Leaving Lambo to sulk in their new suite - he wasn't even close to forgiving Tsuna yet - they wandered out onto the large private balcony.

It was almost dawn, the sky beginning to lighten just beyond the horizon.

Tsuna sighed. He could feel Gokudera's presence next to him, but he only looked away, keeping his back to the Phantom Thief's number one supporter.

More than anything, he hated confrontations. It didn't matter who won or who came out on top. In the process, something would be lost and everyone would get hurt. In the end, Tsuna had avoided his father precisely because of that. Whatever his father said or did, Tsuna knew that their peaceful facade of "family" would be ripped away the moment Tsuna confronted him.

He always dealt with his problems by running. But now there was no where to run.

"Kaitou-sama, I won't leave," Gokudera declared without preamble. His approach was the exact opposite - take the lead and turn it to your advantage. "I'll follow you anywhere. I want to stay by your side, even if it means putting my life on the line. Even if it means I might die. That's my decision."

Tsuna cringed away, understanding what Gokudera didn't say - there was no way to change his mind.

"...I'm just a thief," Tsuna said quietly. "I can run and hide, better than anyone. I learned how to keep myself from getting hurt. But the truth is, I'm not strong. I'm not strong enough to be someone who protects."

"Kaitou-sama," Gokudera tried to say, but Tsuna shook his head sharply.

"You think of me as your boss, don't you? But I'm not like that," he said. Not a leader, not strong, not someone to look up to. Tsuna wasn't anything like a boss should be, no matter what Vongola's Ring tried to claim. "You said we're Family, but... Gokudera, the Phantom Thief isn't part of the mafia. He has no Family."

Gokudera might have followed the Phantom Thief, but that was all he could ever be - a follower. Whether a fan or a pursuer, everyone could only follow the Phantom Thief as he dashed off alone, unbound by anyone or anything.

It was a fantastical, unreal existence.

Tsuna stared out into the distance, where the boundary of sea and sky blurred into one. He tried not to imagine the sort of expression he'd see if he turned around. Gokudera couldn't seem to find the words to protest, but Tsuna could feel unspoken plea pressing against his back.

'Don't leave me,' it seemed to say. 'We're Family.'

Tsuna sighed, but a smile slowly formed across his lips. 'Haaa… I guess in the end I'm still number one least able to refuse a request,' he thought. 'Well, it's probably for the best.'

"But you know, the Phantom Thief has disappeared forever," Tsuna mused.

Reaching up, he pulled off the thick glasses he had worn as part of his disguise.

Turning to Gokudera, he said, "My name is Sawada Tsunayoshi. Call me Tsuna, okay?"

~.~.~

EDIT: 1/25/2014 Rewrote the entire middle portion, hahaha.

**Notes**

Q: Wait, the Ninth figured it out?  
A: Yes, he did. Reborn didn't have all the pieces, in particular the knowledge that Iemitsu's son was missing, so he couldn't quite make the connection, but Nono was able to guess it once he took a step back and thought about it. (Which he probably should have done earlier, but…)

Thanks for the great response to last chapter! I think most people expected something different from this chapter, haha. But next chapter will actually be what everyone has been waiting for, Namimori! Neither big nor small, Nami is the best!

~.~.~

_Next time: Yamamoto Takeshi_

~.~.~


	8. Hometown

~.~.~

**Phantom Thief Decimo**

_Previously: Tsuna decided to leave the Phantom Thief identity behind and headed for Japan alone. However, Gokudera was able to predict his movements and caught up to him en route. Finally accepting Gokudera as a member of his Family, Tsuna revealed his true name._

~.~.~

Despite his very Japanese name, Gokudera had never been to Japan. Being only a quarter Japanese, he stood out quite a bit, not entirely in a bad way. A trail of whispering, giggling young women following him all the way from the port, through the streets, into the train and out into town again, all of them happily eyeing his exotic good looks and bad boy demeanor.

"Are you doing okay?" Tsuna asked as Gokudera glared at a street sign.

"Yes, I'm fine, Kai… Ah, Tsuna-sama," Gokudera said. "It's just that... I practiced my Japanese in order to talk to your in your native language, but I... never really brushed up on my reading and writing skills. I'm... having some difficulty."

His shoulders were shaking with the almost physical effort of admitting his weakness, and Tsuna could see the red creeping up across his ears.

"I'm having some trouble too," he said simply. "I haven't actually read anything in Japanese except my mom's messages since I left for Italy. And I failed pretty much all my language and literature classes too..."

Together, they stared up at the sign.

"I think it says the library is to the left," Gokudera suggested.

"That can't be right. We already passed the library," Tsuna said. "I think it's about the park. That's about the only thing over that way."

Unless something new had been built while he was away.

"...Should we try asking Lambo?" Tsuna said. "He knows Chinese, right? So..."

The two exchanged a look, then glanced back at the boy trailing behind them. He was munching happily on tray of takoyaki, the sauce smeared across his cheeks. Tsuna had bought it for him at the train station, having grown tired of Lambo's many questions about the unfamiliar sights of Japan.

The only bright side was that, with his Bovino weapons lost overboard, Lambo's attempts to threaten various store clerks, waitresses, and policemen into doing his bidding had been seen as just the cute tantrums of a foreign child - who, incidentally, didn't speak Japanese.

Instead, Lambo apparently knew Italian, English, German, Chinese and Urdu, as opposed to Gokudera's Italian, English, French, Latin and Japanese. It made Tsuna feel a bit inadequate, knowing only Japanese and Italian with a smattering of English.

On the other hand, last time they asked Lambo for help, he had rubbed it in their faces for twenty minutes and then proceeded to lead them to the nearest ice cream parlor, instead of the bus station, like he was supposed to.

Going by his expression, Gokudera remembered that incident too.

"Well, it'll be fine. Probably," Tsuna said, leading the way onward.

He focused instead on the familiar streets. He had almost panicked at the train station downtown, confused by the new shopping center and the renovated arcade. It had all looked so different, and Tsuna had almost thought that he wouldn't be able to find his way.

But here in the residential district, everything was still the same as when he'd left. There was the corner where he'd see Kyoko's older brother run past every morning. There was the low wall Haru liked to walk on when they were coming back from the library. There was the house with the Chihuahua that always barked at Tsuna - he instinctively edged away, to Gokudera's other side.

Still, Tsuna couldn't help smiling. 'It's good to be back,' he thought. 'I missed this place.'

And there was his home, the house he had grown up in. 'Sawada,' read the nameplate at the front gate.

Gokudera stared at it, remaining frozen at the entrance as Tsuna stepped down the path to the front door. It was unlocked, like always, and Tsuna didn't hesitate to push it open.

"Mom, I'm home!" he called out, like he had so many times in the first sixteen years of his life.

A familiar, cheerfully voice answered.

"Ara? Welcome home, Tsu-kun!"

~.~.~

**Chapter 8: Hometown ~ Refuge in Obscurity**

~.~.~

Nana looked up in surprise as Tsuna carried a stack of dirty plates to the sink.

"That should be everything," he said, setting the dishes into the soapy water.

"Oh my! You've grown up so much, Tsu-kun, helping Mama clean up without even being told to!" Nana laughed goodnaturedly. "Where did my no-good son go?"

"Mom!" Tsuna protested, flushing. "I wasn't that bad…"

Well, maybe he had been. His homemaking skills were actually still lacking, but he could do that much.

Nana's smile widened, and Tsuna suspected that if her hands weren't elbow deep in soapy water, she would have ruffled his hair. "You boys can just leave it to me," she said, including in her words Gokudera, who stood next to her drying the dishes Nana had washed.

"Ma'am! I couldn't possibly leave you to do this alone, after you so graciously allowed us to stay here!" Gokudera protested. "Of course, Tsuna-sama, there is no need for you trouble yourself," he added. "I will assist your honorable mother in cleaning up."

Looking at their determined faces, Tsuna could only sigh and give in. "I'm just gonna wipe down the table," he said, heading out of the kitchen. Behind him he could hear Nana remind Gokudera, yet again, to just call her Mama.

It was honestly a little frightening how easily Nana had accepted not only her son's sudden return, but also the fact that he had brought two Italian "friends" with him and asked for them to be put up at their house for an indefinite period of time. At this point, Tsuna was starting to suspect that if he said, "Mom, I went to Italy to confront Dad about being in mafia, but instead I became a professional thief," Nana would just ask him, "That's nice. Did you have fun, Tsu-kun?"

Sweeping a wet rag over the kitchen table, Tsuna glanced toward the living room, where he could hear the television playing a children's program and Lambo's occasional laughter. Once he had finished his chore, Tsuna wandered over to the couch to join the boy, who was clapping along with the antics of the onscreen characters.

"Mwahaha!" laughed what Tsuna assumed to be the villain, a cloaked, masked ominous figure standing high above the heroes. "It's over, fools! Farewell!"

"It's over, fools!" Lambo repeated enthusiastically, trying to make his young voice go deep and menacing. "Farewell!"

'At least his Japanese is improving,' Tsuna thought. In fact, the progress was impressive, though it wasn't entirely clear if the boy understood what he was saying.

"Hey, Lambo," Tsuna said, as the show cut to commercial - apparently on a cliff hanger. "Don't you want to… follow along after the heroes instead? You know, the good guys, they're the ones in blue."

"I can tell who they are!" Lambo protested, scowling. It was frankly rather cute. "They're the cops! Of course I don't want to learn from them! They're boring!"

'A mafia kid's sensibilities,' Tsuna thought, chuckling awkwardly.

Lambo's attention was caught by a commercial, and Tsuna found himself watching as well. It was for the Namimori Animal Park, advertising their winter holiday special rates and events. "Come and join us for a special performance by everyone's favorite Namahage-kun!" the announcer was saying, the image showing a straw-cloaked monster in a red mask.

"Oh! I want to see! Let's go see that!" Lambo insisted, tugging at Tsuna's shirt.

"Wow, they're still doing that?" Tsuna said. He hummed thoughtfully and muttered to himself, "I wonder if it's her. Come to think of it, I should probably get in touch Haru..."

Lambo ignored Tsuna's musings. "Let's go! Let's go! Na-ma-ha-ge-kun!"

"Hey! Don't bother Tsuna-sama with that nonsense!" Gokudera yelled, emerging from the kitchen with Nana. Lambo stuck out his tongue, then ducked behind Tsuna to avoid Gokudera's threatening lunge.

"Oh, that's a wonderful idea!" Nana said, making Gokudera freeze in his protests. "You should go out more, Tsu-kun. Show your friends around town."

Stretching, Tsuna glanced out the patio door onto the backyard. "I suppose," Tsuna agreed. "Why not? I haven't been to the zoo in a while."

"Yay!" Lambo cheered, throwing his hands in the air.

Nana also looked entirely too pleased, clapping her hands together in delight. Tsuna gave her an odd look, taking in the beaming smile. 'I just said I'd go out. It's not that weird, is it?' he thought. However, compared to his middle school self, it kind of was.

"Tsuna-sama, is that really wise?" Gokudera asked quietly, a little while later. "It's not necessary to entertain that brat, and… what if you're seen?"

Tsuna chuckled. "So what if I am? This is my hometown, Gokudera. There's nothing weird about me being here. No one's going to make the connection between some no-good loser returning home in Japan and the Phantom Thief disappearing in Italy."

Sensing more than seeing Gokudera shift uneasily, Tsuna glanced at him. "Gokudera, I told you before. The Phantom Thief is done. It was fun, but I'm not going to do that anymore. It's over. I'm just Sawada Tsunayoshi now," he said.

He watched, as Gokudera hesitated, mulling over his words. It was probably a hard thing to come to terms with. Even Tsuna had trouble believing it.

"Then, Kaitou… Tsuna-sama, what are you going to do from here?" Gokudera asked. The question hung heavily in the silence between them.

"I don't really know," Tsuna admitted finally. "I guess the normal thing would be to go to some university, but… there's no way I could manage that." He laughed, remembering his abysmal grades in middle school, coupled with the fact that he had completely skipped high school.

"If that's the future you wish for, then I will help you achieve it," Gokudera said firmly.

Tsuna shook his head. He wasn't sure if Gokudera meant to tutoring or some illegal means, but he knew he couldn't imagine himself going to classes - and probably failing - again. What would he major in? What kind of job would he study for?

"...I don't know what kind of future I want," Tsuna said. Meeting Gokudera's gaze, he smiled apologetically. "This probably isn't what you signed up for."

To his surprise, Gokudera returned his smile. "That's alright. We'll figure it out together," he said, flushing a little at his own boldness. "It's… not bad. It's very peaceful here."

"Right? There's nothing dangerous in Namimori," Tsuna agreed, beaming. "We can just relax. Mom's right. I'll show you around town. We'll go to the zoo, and the new shopping center, and the shrine, for New Years'..."

Gokudera nodded eagerly. However, his expression grew serious as he glanced toward the front of the house. "There's just one thing, Tsuna-sama," he said. "I've noticed a suspicious character, who keeps passing by the house routinely. It's too exact to be just normal business, and he always looks at this house specifically."

Frowning thoughtfully, Tsuna asked, "What does he look like?"

"Short black hair, about our age. Dresses simply," Gokudera said. "But he doesn't carry himself like a civilian, and his entire aura is not ordinary."

"Oh," Tsuna blinked in realization, his face clearing. "I know who it is. I'll have to thank him."

Despite Gokudera's questioning look, Tsuna only shook his head.

~.~.~

"Mom, I'm heading out!" Tsuna called out.

Nana peeked out of the kitchen and waved. "Have fun, Tsu-kun!" She directed another overly pleased, beaming grin at Tsuna, who shot her a weird look and turned instead to the other two who had come to see him off.

"Lambo-san wants to go! Sushi! Sushi!" Lambo chanted, pouting and stomping his foot. All attempts to convince him not to refer to himself in third person, with a suffix no less, had been met with abject failure.

"Be quiet, you stupid cow! Don't impose on Tsuna-sama!" Gokudera scowled down at the boy.

"I'll bring some back for you, okay?" Tsuna said, reaching down to ruffle Lambo's hair, something that oddly always made him quiet down. Turning to Gokudera, who had been the one to veto having them joining Tsuna, he asked, "Are you sure you don't want to come?"

Gokudera shook his head. "It's not safe. Neither of us are well-known, but we'll stand out. There's still a chance that someone might make the connection," he explained.

"You can't stay inside forever, or just go out late at night, like you have been," Tsuna said, frowning. "I was serious about going to the zoo. It's a promise."

"I know. But I've almost finished scouting the local crime elements, and I'll get some fake IDs for us soon," Gokudera said. He glanced away, unsatisfied with just those simple measures of protection, but there was little else he could do.

"Crime elements? I don't think Namimori has any major criminal groups," Tsuna mused. 'Because the top spot is already taken by a certain discipline group,' he thought.

"There aren't. The biggest - Momokyokai, they're called - can barely be called a gang," Gokudera admitted, his frown making it clear the relatively peaceful nature of Namimori just made him more suspicious. "But even a small-time gang can pass information on to the real yakuza, or the Triads, or even the mafia - to someone who would recognize us." Worriedly, he added, "Are you sure this person you're meeting is trustworthy, Kaitou-sama?"

Tsuna chuckled. "Yes, I'm sure," he repeated, once again, to a question they had gone over many times. "She was my tutor in middle school. She's a little strange, but she's a good person. And… my first friend."

He smiled softly at the memories. It had taken Tsuna an embarrassingly long time to realize that that's what the two of them were - friends. 'It's probably a good thing she's so pushy,' Tsuna mused to himself. 'Otherwise I would have forever remained a friendless loser. Come to think of it, Gokudera was the one who forced being friends on me too...'

Gokudera himself had taken on a strange expression as he watched Tsuna reminisce. "I… see. Have… have a good time, Kai… Tsuna-sama," he said, his voice sounding a little strangled.

Peering at him for a moment, Tsuna nodded slowly. "Don't worry. Namimori is safe. I'll be fine," Tsuna told him again, trying to guess at the source of Gokudera's unease. He wasn't entirely correct, but it was enough for Gokudera to muster up a smile and usher Tsuna out the door.

It was cold out on the street, and Tsuna shivered as his breath misted in the open air. Winter had come to Namimori, and unfortunately Tsuna hadn't brought much with him to Japan, including clothing. To his mixed frustration and happiness, he'd outgrown everything he had worn in middle school.

Pulling his light jacket tighter around him, Tsuna let a small amount of Sky Flames harmonize into the air, keeping the temperature around him pleasantly warm.

Tsuna imagined there were many who would have protested such a frivolous use of Flames, but it had proven invaluable during Tsuna's first winter in Italy. He had still been something of a novice and had managed to get some people on his tail. Finding a place to hide hadn't been hard, but it was much harder to find somewhere with heating.

Not to mention that it did wonders for his control.

The streets of Namimori were busy, with couples, groups of friends and families all hurrying on their way, chatting merrily, some carrying bags of purchases - presents, for those thinking far enough ahead. Tsuna found himself smiling absently as he drifted along toward his destination.

Namimori was safe and peaceful. There was nothing to fear there.

As the familiar banner of Takesushi appeared at the end of the street, Tsuna sped up without thinking. The best sushi shop in Namimori was packed, pleasant heat and the noise of a cheerful crowd wafting out as Tsuna ducked inside.

His eyes scanned the customers, seated at the tables and counter, for his friend. She should have been the only one alone, but Tsuna was surprised to see that even she had a companion - a companion he recognized.

"Ah, Tsuna-san!" Haru called out, waving energetically as she caught sight of him. "Tsuna-san, we're over here! I got us a table!"

Tsuna smiled, sliding into the seat across from her. "Hi, Haru," he greeted her. "Good to see you again. It's been a while. And, um…"

He trailed off, his eyes landing on Haru's companion, before darting away. Fighting down a blush, Tsuna swallowed heavily. He had been sure he was over this, but somehow, the familiar warm feeling still stirred in his chest at just the sight of the former idol of Namimori Middle and his old crush, Sasagawa Kyoko.

"You remember Kyoko, right, Tsuna-san?" Haru said, apparently blissfully unaware of Tsuna's sudden bout of nervousness. "We ran into each other here and started talking a bit. I've been so busy with school that we even missed our monthly cake day."

"It's good to see you again, Tsuna-kun," Kyoko said, smiling radiantly. Tsuna melted a little. She was still lovely and kind, just as he remembered. No, maybe more so. To Haru, she added, "I've been busy too. The teachers are really pushing us before winter break starts."

The two girls chuckled and shuddered melodramatically, leaving Tsuna to watch them with slightly befuddled amusement. He tried to remember his own time in school, how he had felt at this time of year. It was a haze of Haru standing over him in weird costumes and chanting encouragements…

It seemed like a lifetime ago. He could barely recollect the feeling of worrying about grades and exams. Then again, his memories of school were not really the happiest.

'I don't want to go back to that,' Tsuna admitted to himself. 'Not back to school and not back to being like that. ...But then, what am I going to do?'

Even though Haru and Kyoko went to different schools, they still found plenty in common, chatting away about their classes and assignments. Watching them, Tsuna sighed a little. He felt startlingly disconnected from them and their worries. With Haru's enthusiastic tutoring, Tsuna had actually managed to somewhat pass his classes, even math, but he had never found a use for most of that information. If anything, the abilities he had gained dodging bullies all those years had proven far more useful.

School had been all he'd had in common with Kyoko, the place where they met and the only thing they had ever talked about to each other. It brought him and Haru together too. But now they didn't even share that. When had their paths diverged so much that he could no longer understand their worries?

Tsuna sighed quietly, feeling a little depressed by his own thoughts. It was normal for people to change, but it felt like he'd changed a little too much.

Finally, Kyoko glanced at her wristwatch and began to gather her things. "I'm supposed to meet my brother," she explained, smiling sheepishly. "I only stopped by to drop off Yamamoto's work."

"Yamamoto?" Tsuna repeated, the name sounding familiar. "Takeshi Yamamoto? The baseball ace?"

Kyoko nodded, but her smile was strained. "He… has missed some school recently, and since we share classes, I've been bringing him his work," she explained.

She bit her lip, worry clear on her face as her gaze darted toward the back of the shop. She'd probably volunteered to help Yamamoto, showing the same kindness Tsuna had first fallen for. That short explanation was all Kyoko offered, unwilling to gossip about her classmate's personal situation, before saying her goodbyes to Tsuna and Haru.

"Baseball ace? I think I heard about that," Haru mused, far less reserved than Kyoko.

"Did something happen?" Tsuna asked absently, his eyes following Kyoko as she slipped past the other customers, apologizing just for almost bumping into a group of rowdy middle-schoolers.

"Ah, Kyoko-chan looks so cute in that sweater. The way her hair curls over her neck is just adorable." That was true, Tsuna thought, nodding. "And she smells so nice, like rose heaps and sunshine!"

Tsuna began to nod again, only to catch himself in the act. He turned a baleful glare on Haru, who had been narrating… not what he had been thinking at all. Of course not.

Haru looked entirely unconcerned with his glare, simply handing him a menu with a bright smile. Flipping it open, Tsuna hid behind the laminated sheets, only his narrowed eyes peeking out. The sight was not particularly intimidating, making Haru grin again.

"Yeah, it was a big deal around town," she continued, her earlier thought, as if her little bout of teasing had never taken place. "I heard their baseball team lost a game because the star player suddenly lost his nerve."

"Lost his nerve? That Yamamoto?" Tsuna repeated. He tried to imagine it - the Yamamoto he remembered from middle school had been always smiling and always confident, sure of himself. He had been the other school idol, alongside Kyoko.

It was hard to believe he would hesitate or become unsettled. But, Tsuna supposed, everyone changed. Certainly, his own middle school self would have never imagined being the Phantom Thief.

"But you know, Tsuna-san," Haru said, leaning with a grin that made Tsuna feel very, very uneasy, "I've seen Kyoko coming by here a lot. I think she might go almost every day. Maybe you can… run into each other again!" She winked meaningfully.

"Wh-what are you saying, Haru?!" Tsuna hissed, leaning in as well until they were almost nose to nose.

"I'm saying," Haru replied, "you should come back tomorrow and talk to Kyoko again!"

As Tsuna sputtered, embarrassed and flushing, she laughed merrily. Why, Tsuna wondered not for the first time, was he friends with her?

~.~.~

"I can't believe I'm doing this," Tsuna muttered to himself, once more staring at the banner of Takesushi.

He had no idea what prompted him to follow Haru's advice. Well, no, he knew - Sasagawa Kyoko and the chance to talk to her again.

Tsuna sighed heavily. 'I'm not in middle school anymore,' he thought. 'Shouldn't I be over this already?'

But talking to Kyoko had always been so easy. Just being in her presence was calming. Thinking about meeting her again made Tsuna smile. Wasn't that good enough? For the rest, he'd figure it out later.

Catching sight of the longed-for silhouette, Tsuna felt his smile widen. Before he could call out, Kyoko noticed him as well and waved.

"Tsuna-kun!" she greeted him. "Hello! It's good to see you again."

Her cheeks were a little flushed from the cold, and her breath was a little short from running up to where he had been standing. She looked charming, and Tsuna felt all his doubts slip away easily.

"You too!" Tsuna replied. "Are you visiting Yamamoto again?"

Kyoko nodded, her smile dimming a little with worry. "What about you?" she asked, trying to hide her concern.

"Oh, uh… Well, you know, the sushi was so good, I just had to get some more," Tsuna stammered. He was completely lying. 'Actually, Gokudera came down sick from it,' he thought, glancing away. 'It's a good thing I hadn't been able to give away that stomach medicine...'

"Oh, that's great!" Kyoko beamed. "Did you know Yamamoto made those? He was helping at the shop. Actually... Tsuna-kun, this might be a little presumptuous…" Kyoko fiddled with the strap of her book bag hesitantly. "Could you come to visit Yamamoto with me? I think… he'd like to hear that you liked his sushi and… maybe seeing more people concerned about him would help…"

"Sure!" Tsuna agreed immediately, his mouth moving before his brain had even began processing her request. '...Why did I agree?!' he thought in the next instance.

Kyoko smiled and headed toward the back of the store. Tsuna reached out fruitlessly, an excuse or a refusal stuck in his throat, before he gave in and let his hand drop. All he could do was trail after her as Kyoko knocked on the back door.

"Tsuyoshi-san! It's me!" she called out.

The door opened, an older man appearing on the other side. He tried to smile at Kyoko, relief and also concern flashing across his face. "Good to see you again! But… Takeshi isn't in right now," he said.

"Not here? Then, he finally went out?" Kyoko asked, her brows furrowing. It should have been good news, but Yamamoto's father didn't look happy.

"He just disappeared," Tsuyoshi said, ruffling his short hair distractedly. "I think… it might have been because of the complaints we had about yesterday. Some of the customers weren't happy…"

Tsuna shifted uneasily, but Kyoko didn't glance back at him. She matched the older Yamamoto's worry. "We'll look for him," she decided. "He… might have gotten lost!" Her awkward attempt at lightheartedness trailed off, but Tsuyoshi nodded gratefully.

When Kyoko finally turned to Tsuna, he smiled and shrugged. There was no way he could turn her down, even if he wasn't sure how useful he'd be.

"Thank you, Tsuna-kun," Kyoko said, beaming, though worry still lined her smile. "I just… have a bad feeling. We need to find him."

Tsuna didn't reply, but he felt the same sense of unease creeping up his spine.

~.~.~

As Tsuna had expected, he didn't prove particularly useful. Or, rather, he was not particularly needed. Both Kyoko and Yamamoto were pretty well know around parts of Namimori, and Kyoko quickly picked up Yamamoto's trail - asking store owners and passersby if they had seen the baseball ace.

"Yes, I saw him," the baker next to Takesushi said.

"He went that way," the cute girls handing out flyers a few streets down said.

They followed the way pointed out by the helpful townspeople - a meandering path through the streets, from the sushi shop to the Third Street markets toward the residential district and back again, until they were directed to what Tsuna knew was one of the worse parts of town.

'What is Yamamoto thinking?' Tsuna wondered, glancing worriedly at Kyoko, who was thanking the pair of old women that had provided the information. 'It doesn't seem like he has any destination. Has he just been wandering aimlessly? Is he so out of it he didn't realize where he ended up?'

His bad feeling was only getting stronger.

He'd meant what he said to Gokudera. There wasn't any place in Namimori that was truly dangerous… to Tsuna. Even their fearsome Disciplinary Committee leader couldn't wipe out all criminal elements, but the ones left behind were on a level that even Tsuna could easily match - or avoid, as he preferred.

However, for civilians like Kyoko and Yamamoto, it was an entirely different matter.

Kyoko looked back, meeting his gaze, and she seemed to easily understand what he was thinking. She had probably received a similar look from her brother too many times to count. Her expression grew determined as she stared back, daring Tsuna to tell her to stay back and not follow.

Instead, Tsuna swallowed heavily and reached out for her hand. When Kyoko didn't protest, he managed to say in a surprisingly firm voice, "Stay close."

They set off quickly, their eyes darting across the increasingly deserted and abandoned streets, never lingering too long on anything - or anyone. The streets were largely empty, compared to the holiday crowds around the other parts of town. The only ones out seemed eager to turn away and hide their faces, but Tsuna could feel their suspicious, calculation gazes on him and Kyoko.

The previous bustle of busy streets faded away into a tense silence. Even Kyoko could feel it, clinging a little tighter to Tsuna's hand. Unfortunately, he was in no state to enjoy it.

"Ah! There he is!" Kyoko exclaimed suddenly.

She was looking at the back of a young man further down the street, who appeared to be staring blankly into the distance. Tsuna couldn't recognize him, but he let himself be pulled along readily as she ran toward the young man.

"Yamamoto! Yamamoto, it's me!" she called out.

He turned slowly as they approached. It was indeed Yamamoto, not looking much different from the way he had been in middle school. He still had the same athletic physique, if taller and more filled out, and the same short, messy haircut that he somehow made to look stylish. The smile he put on after a moment's pause was familiar too, but it seemed much more brittle than Tsuna remembered.

"Yo, Kyoko," Yamamoto greeted her, his eyes crinkling shut as he raised a hand and waved. "What's up?"

The breezy casualness of his words, no matter how artificial, was completely out of place. Tsuna could only stare at him, brow furrowing in growing unease. Still, Kyoko seemed willing to play along, smiling tentatively.

"I just came by again," she said, "but then I heard you'd gone out. I was… really surprised!"

They both laughed awkwardly, the strained tone of it setting Tsuna's teeth on edge. When Yamamoto's gaze turned to him, Tsuna tried to smile back, but he doubted the expression was in any way happy - or believable.

"Oh, this is Sawada Tsuna, from middle school," Kyoko hastened to introduce him. "Remember? We were in the same class."

Yamamoto's smile twitched, as if trying to widen, but it looked more like the last throes of a dying creature. "I remember. Dame-Tsuna, right?"

'Uwah… I haven't heard that in a while,' Tsuna thought, sighing a little. 'Of course that's how he remembers me. Well, not that there was much else to remember...'

He glanced at Kyoko in surprise as her hand tightened around his. Her uneasy smile had shifted into a disapproving frown as she looked at Yamamoto.

"Please don't use that terrible nickname," she said, making Tsuna blink in surprise and flush a little. "It wasn't right from the start, and it's ridiculous to keep using it after all these years." Her gaze shifted to Tsuna, and she smiled apologetically, a little sheepish. "I'm sorry too. I should have said something back then, instead of just letting it go on."

"It's okay," Tsuna hastened to assure her. Just the fact that Kyoko had even considered disagreeing with their entire student body about Tsuna's position as completely no-good made him feel warm and wriggly inside. "It doesn't really matter anymore," he added.

It really didn't matter, and it hadn't for a long time. What his classmates called him had become unimportant to Tsuna a while back, mostly because he'd had much bigger concerns than whether he had flunked a math quiz or failed to score a single point in gym class. Probably the only reason he had continued going to school was the protection being there afforded and the only reason he kept doing his homework was Haru's unrelenting insistence.

Yamamoto laughed, an awkward, stuttering sound. "No, she's right," he said. "Sorry about that. I've got no right to say that. I'm the one who's really no-good, after all."

"Yamamoto-kun!" Kyoko protested.

"It's true," Yamamoto continued. He was still smiling. "I lost the game. Baseball was the only thing I was good for, and now I can't even do that right. I'm no good to anyone. Even Dad… I tried to help at the shop, but I messed up at that too. I really can't do anything at all."

"That's not true, Yamamoto-kun," Kyoko insisted. Her hand was gripping Tsuna's almost painfully now. "And even if it was, what does it matter? Whether you can do anything well doesn't determine your worth as a person. I'm sure your father cares about you, whether or not you can make sushi. And everyone at school has been worried too…"

"You're wrong. You're the only one who's been worried. Did you know? You're the only one who's come to check on me this entire time," Yamamoto told her.

As Kyoko hesitated, Tsuna squeezed her hand reassuringly.

"Well, I'm sorry that the concern of a no-good loser like me doesn't count," he said, trying to keep his tone light but still firm. If nothing else, it was enough to get Yamamoto's attention. "I've been looking for you too, you know. And I thought the sushi was fine."

Tsuna shifted uneasily as both Yamamoto and Kyoko stared at him, one startled, the other relieved. He could feel his ears going red, but he forged on.

"I-if you want to talk about being no good, then I've got a lot of experience at that. I'll give you some advice… but not here." Reaching out, Tsuna grabbed Yamamoto's hand and began to pull him along.

They had been standing in the middle of the street for a while, caught up in their personal issues, and they had inevitably attracted quite a bit of attention, none of it the good kind. Tsuna could feel greedy, malevolent eyes following their movement, and he knew that they couldn't linger much longer. Something was coming.

Sometimes, Tsuna hated being right.

"Hey, what's the rush?" someone called out behind them. Chancing a glance over his shoulder, Tsuna saw a few men emerging from a side alley. They didn't look very friendly, or very safe. They looked like thugs.

He picked up the pace, almost jogging, with Yamamoto and Kyoko dragged along on either side. Unfortunately, their path was cut off as several more men stepped out in front of them.

"Now, that's just rude," one of them drawled, leering at the trio. "My friends and I just want to talk to you kids a bit. Why don't you stay and chat?"

It was clear that talking was the farthest thing from their minds, going by the way several of them were hefting their weapons - chains, pipes, brass knuckles, and even a wooden sword. Tsuna could tell, from his experience with the various levels of the Italian underworld, that these thugs were small fry, but they had big egos, which they fueled by harassing those weaker than them. They didn't want anything from the trio except the amusement of making them miserable.

"Sorry, but we're in a hurry," Tsuna said, trying to stall for time, as the two groups closed in around them, in front and behind. "We got a bit lost, you see, and now we've gotta get going…"

"T-that's right," Kyoko chimed in, pressing closer to Tsuna's side. "My brother is waiting for us! He really gets worried about me..."

She jumped a little as Tsuna slipped something smooth and metallic into her hand. Going by the shape, it was a cell phone, and judging by the charm attached, it was hers. She didn't stop to question why Tsuna had it. Sliding it surreptitiously into the pocket of her coat, she muted it and began to dial.

"Well now, that's a real predicament," mused the apparent leader - a scarred man in a black coat that had the characters for "boss" on the front, with a wooden sword stuck through the white bandages around his middle. "Of course, my boys and I will be happy to help you out. This is Momokyokai territory, so we know it like the back of hand."

'Momokyokai? Wasn't that the criminal group Gokudera mentioned?' Tsuna thought. 'So basically, they're yakuza.'

"Thanks, but I think we've just about got it," he replied to the gang leader, trying to edge away so they would at least have a wall at their backs.

The thugs were closing ranks around them, but they weren't on guard. If anything, the yakuza were feeling relaxed and anticipatory. That meant there would be a small opening for Tsuna to act. He just needed to catch them off guard and stun one of them long enough to pull Kyoko through their circle. Hopefully Yamamoto would be able to follow on his own, since Tsuna didn't think he could drag both of them in this situation.

His eyes darting across the thugs' faces, Tsuna chose his target, a sleazy-looking thin man in a red shirt, who hung back enough to create a small weak spot in the yakuza's circle. Squeezing Kyoko's hand reassuringly, he let go of Yamamoto and prepared to attack.

But to his surprise, someone else moved first.

As soon as Tsuna's fingers slipped from his wrist, Yamamoto burst into motion. He charged at the gang leader, punching him in the nose - with a crunching sound that made Tsuna wince - and grabbing hold of the wooden sword at his waist. As the man staggered, his hands going to his face, where blood was flowing freely, Yamamoto pulled out the bokken and swung it at the nearest underling.

Breaking out of their stupor, the other thugs moved to retaliate.

"Run for it!" Tsuna yelled to Kyoko. Spotting an opening, he pulled her through and pushed her down the street.

"But, Yamamoto-kun-!" she tried to protest.

"I'll help him! Go!" Tsuna shouted. He waited only long enough to see Kyoko turn and run, before diving back into the fray.

The yakuza mob had degenerated into complete chaos, crowding around Yamamoto and attempting to attack with little success. They paid little attention to Tsuna, who slipped between them with ease. He didn't bother trying to fight them. His goal was much simpler - find Yamamoto and book it.

In the flashes of Yamamoto Tsuna saw through the melee, he was handling himself well - he didn't swing the wooden sword like a baseball bat, despite what Tsuna had expected. His movements were unpolished and inexperienced, but clearly those of a swordsman. The rank and file fell easily, some knocked out, some limping away to groan over their injuries and egg on their comrades.

However, there were a few thugs of higher quality mixed in. They, and their boss, had been taken by surprise, but now they recovered and regained their bearing, and began to move in. A massive gorilla of a man in a purple shirt charged at Yamamoto and, despite his size, ducked the first swing and blocked the second, grabbing hold of Yamamoto's stolen sword.

"So you've got some fight in you, you brat," the leader growled, dropping his hand to reveal his bloodstained face. "But we'll make you regret that. You're going down. Nobody crosses the Momokyokai and lives."

It was an exaggeration, if not a complete lie, but Yamamoto didn't even flinch. He smiled at the yakuza boss, the blatantly fake expression still ironically somehow more real than the smiles he had given Kyoko. "Oh, really? Sorry, but I'm not going to lose," Yamamoto said, almost beaming. "You see… the sword style my dad taught me is utterly flawless and invincible."

Twisting the wooden sword, he yanked it out of the yakuza member's grasp and thrust it sharply into the gorilla man's belly.

"First form, Shajiku no Ame," he said proudly as the mountain of a man slowly tilted to the side and collapsed.

"How dare you! You're going down, you punk!" Two more underlings stepped forward, beefy men in tight shirts, one shaved bald, the other nearly so. However, the boss held out an arm, halting them.

Instead, he grabbed a pipe from the hands of another subordinate and moved to face Yamamoto himself. "It's true, Shigure Soen Ryu is an impressive style," he said, pausing to spit out bloody mucus, "but you're just a whelp. In the hands of an amateur, even the finest sword is just a toy."

Yamamoto's smile widened as he hefted the wooden sword in his hands. The grip was different than a bat's, but he finally felt alive again, for the first time since that disastrous game. The familiar feeling of determination and pride pounded through his veins. In the rush of adrenaline, nothing else mattered, except him and his opponent.

'I won't lose,' he thought. 'I'm going to win!'

'What is he thinking?' Tsuna wondered, staring at Yamamoto's grin, which was somehow both calm and excited. It was a predator's smile, something that Tsuna had seen on the most dangerous hitmen and mafiosi. It was not an expression or feeling that Tsuna could understand. Glancing around, he judged, 'There's no way he'll be able to just run from this. There's probably no way he'd be willing to...'

The remaining underlings had begun to form a circle around Yamamoto and the Momokyokai boss, creating an impromptu arena for the two swordsmen. Tsuna hid in their shadows, watching nervously and knowing that the moment he broke from the group, he'd become a target for all of them. He couldn't see this ending well at all.

Compared to Yamamoto, the yakuza boss was more experienced and two weight classes higher. However, he was also older and slower. The ungainly pipe he was using further handicapped him.

'Yamamoto has good odds,' Tsuna thought, 'but then what? Even if he wins, he probably won't be able to take the rest of these guys, especially if reinforcements arrive. This is why I hate fighting. It never helps! No matter how many opponents you take down, you don't accomplish anything!'

In the circle, the two exchanged blows, testing each other and, in the yakuza leader's case, getting a feel for his weapon. Finally, the Momokyokai boss went on the offensive.

Roaring like a bull, he charged and swung the pipe down on Yamamoto's head with crushing force. His smile sharpening, Yamamoto sidestepped the attack and retaliated with a diagonal slash. However, the boss was ready for that and easily pivoted to block Yamamoto's blade.

"Too easy!" the man yelled, confident in his defense and in the knowledge that Yamamoto would be sent off-balance by the block, leaving him open to a counter.

However, Yamamoto's smile didn't waver, and the Momokyokai boss found himself blocking against nothing but air as Yamamoto's empty hand swept by. Tsuna's eyes widened as he caught sight of the wooden sword, intentionally released by Yamamoto, falling neatly into his opposite hand.

The yakuza boss was caught completely off guard, letting Yamamoto drive the wooden sword into his side. With a real blade, that would have been a fatal blow, but as it was, the blow made the Momokyokai leader gag and struggle for breath.

"Fifth form, Samidare Ame," Yamamoto announced, grinning.

Snarling, the yakuza boss lashed out blindly, but Yamamoto just laughed and danced out of the pipe's reach. "You brat, I'm done playing around!" the man yelled hoarsely. "Get him!"

Even though their boss had just abandoned what had been a one-on-one duel, his underlings didn't hesitate to rush at Yamamoto, whose smile sharpened but showed no hint of worry.

"Haha, so that's how it is," he muttered, lifting his sword horizontally. "That's fine. This is perfect for the sixth form-"

He hesitated suddenly, his eyes widening. Even as the thugs had almost reached him, he remained rooted to the spot.

"The sixth form…" Yamamoto muttered, his shoulders and the tip of his sword slumping helplessly as all of his earlier confidence and exhilaration abruptly drained away. "I can't remember…"

"Yamamoto! Move it!" Tsuna yelled. To his frustration, Yamamoto flinched but didn't budge, even as a thug's fist headed for his face.

Cursing, Tsuna crashed into the underling, with enough force to send the man stumbling off course. He grabbed Yamamoto's hand and pulled him out of the way of another attack. They were surrounded now, the press of bodies making it hard to dodge.

Still, these opponents were not of a high level, even if their sheer number complicated things - as did Yamamoto's stiff weight, dragged along by Tsuna but making no move of his own. After a few chaotic moments, the gang's numbers began to work against them as they lost track of their targets.

Ducking under a swinging chain and bringing down a charging thug with a kick to the shin, Tsuna finally pulled himself and Yamamoto free of the mob and broke into a dead sprint down the street.

'We can make it,' Tsuna thought optimistically, 'we're almost-'

He couldn't explain what made him glance over his shoulder - just a feeling, some shift in the air behind them. But what he saw made his eyes widen and his body tense as he tried desperately to change their path to avoid the unexpected threat.

The Momokyokai boss had seen their escape. He stood tall in the middle of the chaotic mob, his face twisted into a snarl. He had reached under his black coat and pulled out something that glinted in the light.

It was a gun, leveled at their backs.

Tsuna had been shot at before, quite often. He had even been shot, an unpleasant experience he had no desire to repeat. He could probably dodge, Tsuna thought in the impossibly long moment as the yakuza boss began to press the trigger. But… could Yamamoto?

No matter what, Tsuna couldn't just leave him here. His grip tightened around Yamamoto's wrist as he tried to pull them both out of the way - a sharp motion meant to throw off the enemy's aim.

Slipping free of his hooded shirt's wide collar, the chain and the ring seemed to flash with a mystic light.

The sharp retort of a gun firing cut through the air.

Sky Flames flared, like a shield protecting them. The bullet, and the ones that followed, were easily swallowed up and disintegrated, before the Flames pushed outward, crashing into the gang and knocking them off their feet.

As the Flames dispersed, the yakuza were left groaning on the scorched ground, the strongest struggling to pick themselves up. The boss levered himself up enough to stare at Tsuna in shock, his gun a melted mess lying nearby.

'T-time to go,' Tsuna thought, swallowing heavily.

~.~.~

Yamamoto let himself be pulled along without protest or resistance, until Tsuna deemed it safe for them to take a rest.

"Are you alright?" Tsuna asked, glancing at the other man with clear worry. As Yamamoto nodded slowly, Tsuna's expression turned into a frown. "What was that back there? Why did you stop like that?"

"I couldn't remember it," Yamamoto muttered, almost too low for Tsuna to hear. "I couldn't remember the sixth form. I thought I could do it… But I can't even do this right. I guess I really am no good at anything - not baseball, not sushi, not my old man's sword style."

He laughed, trying to look sheepish and a little apologetic - "Oops, I dropped my lunch," or "Oops, I forgot to do my homework," - but his deep distress still shone through. He looked pale, as if was about to be sick at any moment.

"I don't know anything about baseball or making sushi or swordsmanship," Tsuna said, sighing, "or about being good at anything at all. But you should take better care of yourself. Placing yourself in danger isn't going to help anything, and it'll just cause trouble for the people who care about you. When your dad and Kyoko realized you were missing, they were really worried, you know."

"Sorry about that," Yamamoto said, his smile a little more honest, but also discomforted. "I didn't mean to make such a mess of things. But… you know, I think I want that advice after all." At Tsuna's questioning look, he elaborated, "You know, like you said before. You know all about being no-good. So how did you break out of it? How did you change?"

"...I haven't?" Tsuna offered, after a moment, confusion making it more of a question. "I'm still completely no-good. I don't think I've changed much at all."

"You have," Yamamoto assured him. "You looked really cool back there. And we were all really impressed when you left on your journey. At first, everyone kept saying that you just couldn't get into any high school or that you ran away, but Kyoko got angry and set them straight."

'Haru must have told her,' Tsuna realized. He blushed faintly. 'Kyoko-chan stood up for me...'

"You didn't see how much I fumbled along the way," Tsuna said, remembering with a wince how he had come to Italy - and what a mess it had been. "I only made it through the first month on sheer luck." That, and his occasional flashes of intuition. Somehow, being hungry, cold and in life-threatening danger had sharpened his sense to an amazingly fine point.

Seeing his expression, Yamamoto laughed. "Yeah, but you still had the courage and determination to try, no matter what anyone said," he mused. "Hah… Or maybe you were always an amazing person. When I think back on it, you were pretty strong in your own way. And I guess you always had this kindness, didn't you? I just hadn't noticed before."

Tsuna looked away, shifting awkwardly. "W-well, you're a pretty amazing person too," he muttered. "Not because of baseball or whatever. It's just that you were always smiling, and I always felt better just by seeing you." He flushed even deeper, ducking his head. "...That sounded really weird…"

Laughing, Yamamoto reached out impulsively and ruffled Tsuna's hair. "Not at all! That's probably the best compliment I've ever gotten!" 'Definitely the most honest one,' he thought. 'I'm the one who ended up feeling better now.'

Tsuna's expression shifted suddenly, becoming serious as he glanced away. "Someone's coming," he said with certainty, and a moment later, Yamamoto could also hear the pounding of approaching footsteps.

'Sounds like just two of them,' Tsuna thought. He glanced at Yamamoto, who had somehow managed to keep hold of his stolen wooden sword. More than that, Yamamoto's gaze had sharpened, no longer dulled and defeated. 'We can take them,' Tsuna judged. 'Any two out of that gang won't be a problem.'

The two of them exchanged a nod, sharing the same thought. They shifted into a ready stance, tensing as they prepared to attack.

'Ready... set...'

"Wait! Yamamoto, stop!" Tsuna yelled, just as the approaching footsteps reached them, someone bursting around the corner.

Yamamoto's sword stopped just short of his opponent's head. At the same time, the opponent's fist stopped just short of Yamamoto's face. The two stared at each other, caught in a standoff.

The one to come around the corner was about their age, maybe a little older, with short pale hair, bandaged arms, and the stance of a fighter. However, he was definitely not part of the Momokyokai. In fact, he looked rather familiar.

"Kyoko's older brother?!" Tsuna yelled, recognition hitting him.

"Onii-san!" Kyoko called out, finally catching up to them. She leaned over, panting for breath. "I'm so glad… we found you, Tsuna-kun, Yamamoto-kun," she murmured.

"Ossu, Sawada, Yamamoto!" Sasagawa Ryohei greeted them, drawing back from Yamamoto. "So, where are those gang delinquents Kyoko said you ran into? Don't worry, I'll set them extremely straight!"

He looked around expectantly, but they were alone in the street. 'I see,' Tsuna thought. 'Kyoko went to get him. He was the captain of the boxing club, so I guess he's a good fighter.'

"Onii-san! Don't be so quick to jump into fights," Kyoko berated him, looking more worried than reproving.

"It's fine if it's to help these guys, right?" Ryohei protested, rubbing awkwardly across the tapped bridge of his nose.

"That's right, Kyoko," Yamamoto agreed. "We're grateful you and your brother came to help us out!"

Faced with the two of them, Kyoko could only sigh and shake head. 'Boys,' she seemed to be thinking, rather like a certain friend of hers. 'Monkeys.'

"Right. So let's get out of here. Like, right now," Tsuna suggested. 'I've had more than enough excitement for the day. No, for the week. The month! I'm supposed to be living the peaceful civilian life here!'

"Don't worry!" Ryohei reassured him, pulling Tsuna into a one armed hug that was more like a strangle hold. "Stick with me, and you'll be fine, Sawada!"

Tsuna squawked indignantly as Ryohei dragged him along. Kyoko giggled, watching them as she hung with Yamamoto.

"I'm glad you're feeling better, Yamamoto-kun," Kyoko said, smiling at him. She had read something in his demeanor that seemed to set her at ease. 'I guess talking to Tsuna-kun helped.'

Yamamoto smiled back easily. "I just realized it's not so easy judge someone's worth," he said. "...Or maybe there's no such thing as someone who's absolutely no-good."

~.~.~

**Notes**

Q: So Haru tutored Tsuna?  
A: Yes. She goes to a prestigious private school, and her father is a professor. So she was hired to tutor Tsuna, first in math, then just in general. They ended up becoming friends. Haru is also friends with Kyoko, though Kyoko and Tsuna are more like acquaintances.

Q: What about Hibari?  
A: I wouldn't say they're friends, but they do know each other.

Q: K27?  
A: It's not really a romance, just a lingering crush on Tsuna's part. I do have a plan for Kyoko. As always, she's the gateway to Ryohei. Also, as you can see, Haru never developed her crush on Tsuna.

Q: Yamamoto already knows Shigure Soen Ryu?  
A: Yes, his dad showed it to him. Unfortunately, Yamamoto wasn't in the correct state of mind to learn it after seeing it once, so there are some problems there… Also, he can't remember the 6th form because we never see it in the series proper. Just a little inside joke.

Haha, a chapter of nothing but setting things up. Just try and find all the hints that were laid down for future events. Just so you know, of the planned 15 chapter, 12-15 are battles with the Varia.

Actually, this entire chapter felt really weird and deviated a lot from my original outline. Like, originally, Yamamoto was supposed to do his usual thing on a roof, and Tsuna would have gone in costume to stop him. Then there was a speeding truck involved. There was meant to be a parallel where Tsuna "steals" Yamamoto's life/future, like with Gokudera, in a way. Instead, it turned out like this. I don't know, you guys.

~.~.~

_Next time: Hibari Kyouya_

~.~.~


	9. Exposed

~.~.~

**Phantom Thief Decimo**

_Previously: Tsuna, Gokudera and Lambo arrived in Namimori, Tsuna's hometown, where they were able to relax and consider their future. However, it wasn't long before Tsuna found himself dragged into another dangerous situation. In order to protect his old classmate, Yamamoto Takeshi, Tsuna was forced to reveal his Sky Flames._

~.~.~

It wasn't long after the incident with Yamamoto that the inevitable occurred. Tsuna should have expected it, really.

Still, it was a terrible sort of surprise when he opened the door and found Hibari Kyoya on his doorstep.

The head of the Disciplinary Committee - now city-wide and under a different name, but still the same group - naturally greeted him with a tonfa to the face.

"Hiiiieeee!" Tsuna dodged, despite the narrow space of the doorway, with the ease of long practice. He couldn't quite muffle his shriek of surprise, however. No matter how many times Hibari attacked him, it never seemed to become less terrifying.

"You have disturbed the peace in Namimori," Hibari hissed, "again."

"It wasn't- Well, I guess it kind of was my fault this time," Tsuna admitted, trying to put the door between himself and Hibari. "But not entirely! It was those yakuza guys!"

"They have been dealt with," Hibari said flatly. Of course they had. Nothing in Namimori escaped Hibari's discipline for long. Now, it was Tsuna's turn. "It didn't take you long to cause another disturbance. You said you had left to deal with this, and to become an upstanding peaceful citizen," Hibari noted, his eyes narrowing.

"This is completely different!" Tsuna hissed back. "Those guys weren't even after me. It was a complete coincidence."

Hibari regarded him silently for a moment, which was somehow more unsettling his previous disapproval. "I am not referring to that brawl you participated in," Hibari said finally. "I do not concern myself with every petty detail. I am referring to the unrest your actions have caused among the crowding herbivores who break the law."

"O-oh? Unrest in the criminal underworld?" Tsuna repeated, breaking out in cold sweat. He suddenly had a very bad feeling. "I don't know what you mean…? I haven't done anything to cause that." He laughed nervously, trailing off under Hibari's cool look.

"Is that so," Hibari said, too flat to be a question. "They certainly seem to think you've done something outstanding. So tell me... What are Sky Flames?"

~.~.~

**Chapter 9: Exposed ~ A Hitman's Heart**

~.~.~

Tsuna stood frozen in horrified silence.

There was no reason for Hibari to know about Dying Will Flames. He hadn't when Tsuna had left. And why ask about Sky Flames, the rarest of all?

There was only one reasonable explanation. It was not one that bode well for Tsuna.

Swallowing heavily, Tsuna said, "It's a long story. I wouldn't want to keep you from your patrol." When Hibari's eyes narrowed, he added quickly, "I'll walk with you. Let's go."

Tsuna didn't wait for a reply, only stepping back inside long enough to slip on his shoes. As they headed down the street, he tried to gather his thoughts.

Knowing Hibari would accept no less, Tsuna started by answering the question he'd been asked. "Sky Flames are one of the forms that Dying Will Flames can take," he said, an answer that answered precisely nothing. He paused to gather his thoughts, trying to ignore the way Hibari's impatient gaze bored into him.

Tsuna himself had never actually received a formal explanation, just picking up bits and pieces here and there when he first arrived in Italy and became involved in the criminal underworld. In many ways, Dying Will Flames were regarded as a symbol of the mafia, since the old mafia Families were the ones able to use Flames most often and easily.

That, in turn, was because of the priceless Rings that were passed down in the Families, which could light up with Dying Will Flames, allowing them to be channeled at will. Channeling Flames without a Ring or another medium was difficult and terribly inefficient, though Tsuna had managed it with some practice. Having a naturally high capacity for Flames helped, of course.

A good Ring made all the difference. Before, creating even the subtle Flames needed for Kagerou had been an effort - gathering and compressing his internal Wave Energy, forcing it outside his body. With the Vongola Sky Ring, it took only a thought to generate dense, pure Flames. The Ring reacted almost automatically to convert Wave Energy into Flames. Tsuna had handled other - stolen - Rings before, but none had come even close to the sheer potency of Vongola's Ring.

But that wasn't something Hibari needed to know - or cared about, probably.

"Dying Will Flames are… a refined manifestation of a person's life force," Tsuna finally said. "They're called that because they most often naturally appear in the moment when you are on the brink of death and act in desperation upon your regrets."

"So it's a battle aura?" Hibari guessed, calmly processing and accepting what Tsuna told him. He didn't seem in the least bit incredulous about something so clearly supernatural and unreasonable according to common sense. Then again, Hibari didn't live in the realm of common sense.

"No," Tsuna replied, shaking his head. "A battle aura is something that can only be seen by rare individuals who are skilled or sensitive enough. Dying Will Flames are visible to everyone and even appear on recordings. They are a high-density form of energy that has many uses, though the most obvious is in combat, due to their destructive properties."

Hibari wasn't actually incorrect. Dying Will Flames were in many ways similar to a battle aura, especially since they were so closely tied to an individual's emotions and resolve. The stronger the resolve and the emotions, the stronger and purer the Flame would be. And the purer the Flame, the more its special properties could be used. Since Tsuna's Flames were fairly pure - or so he thought, anyway - he could use the Harmony property of Sky Flames pretty well.

…But that wasn't something Hibari needed to know either.

"Destructive properties like leaving burn marks all over a Namimori street," Hibari noted icily, making Tsuna twitch. Of course, that was the part he'd care about.

"W-well, you can also use it to reinforce your body or…" Tsuna trailed off under Hibari's oppressive stare. Meekly, he said, "I'm very sorry."

Hibari stared him down for a while longer, before mercifully turning his attention away. "All the crowding scavenger herbivores mentioned these Sky Flames," he said. "They appeared very… excited by what they had seen."

"When you say 'all'..." Tsuna ventured, "...which ones do you mean? All the Momokyokai? All the yakuza? ...All of Namimori?"

Hibari looked back at him flatly. "All of them," he repeated. "Beyond Namimori as well. They were eager to share the news."

"...Oh," Tsuna said, burying his face in his hands.

Sky Flames were rare, more so than Tsuna realized. People capable of using Sky Flames to such a capacity were rarer still. Even if it took time for the connection to the Phantom Thief and the stolen Vongola Sky Ring to be made, someone would come to investigate - and probably try to strong-arm Tsuna into their organization.

"Is this going to bring more disturbances to Namimori?" Hibari asked.

"...Probably, yeah," Tsuna admitted. "It'll be just like in middle school again. Nostalgic, huh?" He laughed awkwardly, trailing off as Hibari suddenly smiled - not at the joke, but in anticipation.

"Yes, just like middle school," Hibari said. His smile didn't bare fangs, but that somehow just made it worse. "I'll be on the look out for foreign trespassers in my city."

'Of course, he's excited,' Tsuna thought gloomily. 'I'm glad someone's enjoying this. So much for my peaceful life. Even if they can't identify me, it's still going to be pretty dangerous, especially once word gets back to the mafia...' His expression darkened further as he realized something unpleasant. 'This is exactly what Gokudera was worried about. How am I going to explain this to him?'

"I'm sorry for disturbing the peace again, Hibari-sempai," Tsuna said, sighing as he turned to the other. "And… thank you. For, um, protecting Namimori, back then and now."

'Thanks for protecting me, and for looking after Mom,' he corrected mentally, but Tsuna knew that Hibari wouldn't appreciate those words.

Instinct made Tsuna jerk back, just in time to avoid a tonfa to the face, again. Like always, Hibari went from civil to murderous in an instance.

"If you're truly grateful, then fight me," Hibari said, as if it was a completely obvious, reasonable thing. "I want to see what these Flames can do."

Tsuna paled. 'He's… he's interested,' he realized with growing terror. 'He'll chase me all over town again! Someone, heeeelp…'

He should have known better than to make a wish like that.

"Kaitou-sama!"

The warcry made Tsuna and Hibari turn, double-take and jump back to avoid a stick of dynamite that was sent flying toward them.

As always, Gokudera arrived on the scene with a bang.

"A noisy, foreign, destructive herbivore," Hibari noted, turning to Gokudera with his weapons aloft. Tsuna shuddered. Hibari's general mood could be judged by how many descriptors he added to "herbivore" - the more words, the worse it was.

To use three right off the bat, Hibari had to be very annoyed.

"How dare you attack Kaitou-sama!" Gokudera yelled, pulling out more dynamite. "I knew you were suspicious from the start!"

"For disturbing the peace and illegal weapon use, I will bite you to death," Hibari assured him.

"Stop it, both of you!" Tsuna ordered, stepping between them. He could probably dodge their attacks, if they didn't listen. Hopefully. "Gokudera, I'm fine. Don't interfere. Hibari-sempai, he's with me. I'll make sure he doesn't disturb the peace… unnecessarily."

Still tense, Gokudera nonetheless backed down, but Hibari refused to lower his weapons. He turned his stare on Tsuna, his eyes narrowing.

"Hibari-sempai, we're going to attract a lot of attention," Tsuna tried to reason with him. "It'll be a crowd. I'll talk to you later, alone."

"Kaitou-sama!" Gokudera protested, only to be ignored.

Finally, Hibari nodded sharply and retracted his tonfas. "The same as before," he said, his tone leaving no room for argument. Black coat flaring behind him, he turned and strode away.

Tsuna watched him go with mixed relief and trepidation. It was, after all, only a stay of execution. Very, very painful execution. 'And I'd almost forgotten how much tonfas hurt,' Tsuna thought gloomily. 'Now I'm going to get a nice reminder...'

"Kai… uh, Tsuna-sama?" Gokudera ventured, finally remembering the name he was supposed to be using.

"It's fine, Gokudera," Tsuna said, sighing. "He's always like that. Let's head back. We've… got some things to discuss."

~.~.~

"His name is Hibari Kyoya," Tsuna began as they walked back to the Sawada home. He paused, uncertain how to continue. "He's… well, he enforces discipline in the city - mostly by beating up anyone who disrupts the peace."

Gokudera was watching him closely, with the sort of focused attention that he gave everything he dedicated himself to - mostly Kaitou-related things. It was still a little unnerving, after all the time they had known each other.

Catching the way Gokudera's eyes narrowed, Tsuna quickly added, "Hibari-sempai is very strong. There's no way we could beat him, even if we worked together. I mean it."

That didn't seem to reassure Gokudera much, but at least he didn't look like he was thinking of turning around and going back to look for Hibari.

"Hibari is the reason why Namimori is so safe. He's… probably the reason I made it through middle school alive," Tsuna added.

He smiled awkwardly, reminiscing, and completely missed the wide-eyed look Gokudera shot him.

"K-Kaitou-sama?!"

"It's fine, it's fine," Tsuna assured him. "...You remember how I told you that I came to Italy to look for my father, after I found out that he's in the mafia? I didn't find out because he left behind some papers or I overheard a suspicious phone call, or anything like that. He did mess up somewhere though. I don't know the details, but a small Family found out about us - about me and Mom."

Gokudera's fists clenched as his quick mind made the connection. "So they came here, to… to…"

"I think the first ones were kidnappers," Tsuna mused almost casually. He'd had years to come to terms with the experience, and he'd been through things far more dangerous since then. "I really did luck out. I managed to lead them straight to Hibari-sempai, who made short work of them. It got more serious after that though..."

Kidnappers or not, the younger Tsuna had been scared out of his mind. He'd had no idea what they even wanted from him, between his own lack of Italian and their low level of Japanese. He really had been lucky that the enemy Family had sent only a few small fry the first time, wanting to focus on stealth and expecting no resistance.

They had definitely not expected Hibari.

Of course, the interrogation Hibari had subjected Tsuna to after he took care of the mafiosi had been even more terrifying. Fortunately, beating up foreign trespassing herbivores had done wonders for Hibari's mood, so he didn't even bother properly biting Tsuna to death.

…That time. When the same thing repeated, Hibari had not been quite so generous. The months that followed had been a haze of running to Hibari while running away from mafia thugs and then running from Hibari afterwards, when the demon prefect turned on Tsuna for causing disturbances, or for training, or for his own amusement, or for whatever reason Hibari came up with.

Just recalling it made Tsuna shiver.

Watching Tsuna reminisce, Gokudera could only wring his hands helplessly. It was over, and obviously Tsuna had made it through. It wasn't as if that sort of thing was even uncommon - coming after the families of powerful men, even if those families knew nothing of the mafia.

That didn't make it any easier to hear. It didn't stop Gokudera from feeling like he'd failed, somehow, to protect his... his Family.

"Well, Hibari-sempai made short work of the rest too," Tsuna continued, pushing the memories away with a subtle twitch. "But they just kept coming. Fortunately, they were a small Family. Eventually, we ended up taking out almost all their members. They mustered up everyone left and came here for one final attempt. Even their boss came, and after we took him out, things returned to normal. It seems they never shared their special information with anyone outside the Family."

They hadn't wanted the competition. They had wanted to be the ones with leverage on the Young Lion of Vongola.

Running a hand over his face, Gokudera tried to push his feelings back and think logically. 'An entire Family, even a small one, completely disappearing, with no one taking credit, should have stood out,' he thought. 'It would have been when I was about fourteen, I guess...'

He tried to remember if he'd heard of anything like that. Had Shamal mentioned something, or his sister?

'That was around the time that Rokudo guy was active. He destroyed several Families, so it probably would have been blamed on him,' Gokudera thought, grimacing. 'It was such a mess back then, I can't really pin down which one might have actually been because of Kaitou-sama and this Hibari…'

"But still," Gokudera muttered, "did the two of you really manage to take out an entire Family? That's… amazing."

The sort of amazing that had landed Rokudo Mukuro and his accomplices in Vendicare, though there had also been special circumstances involved in that case.

"More like Hibari took out an entire Family," Tsuna corrected. "He's just that strong. But like I said, they were a small Family, and they came in small groups, so it wasn't like he fought them all at once. And Hibari's Disciplinary Committee helped too."

Admittedly, they had mostly helped with the clean up and cover up, making sure that Namimori remained peaceful, even when Hibari had waged a short but fierce war with an entire mafia Family.

Tsuna wasn't a malicious person, but he had been so, so glad to see that Family's Boss take a tonfa to the face and go down, along with the last of his men. Finally, everything would be peaceful again, he had thought, fat tears of relief sliding down his cheeks.

Hibari, on the other hand, had looked distinctly disappointed.

Not that everything had really returned to the way it had been before. Tsuna couldn't exactly just forget that the mafia had come after him and his mother.

There had been a slim, slim chance that the Family who had targeted Tsuna had been mistaken, or that Tsuna had misunderstood them. It had certainly seemed far-fetched enough. At first, Tsuna thought about asking Nana, but he discarded that idea quickly. If she didn't know anything - and she probably didn't - he had no intention of burdening her.

He had considered asking Iemitsu for a while longer. But in the end, Iemitsu himself had decided that for Tsuna. In the three years of middle school, Tsuna had no once heard from his father. Not a phone call, not even a postcard.

Slowly, Tsuna's resolve had solidified. He'd get to the bottom of this mafia thing himself, he'd decided, on yet another sleepless night. He'd go to Italy, if that's what it took.

Before leaving, Tsuna had told his mother and Haru that he was going to find the truth. Both of them had thought it was terrible romantic and existential. He'd told Hibari about the same thing, but he understood Tsuna's true meaning.

Hibari had also understood what Tsuna meant when he had swallowed heavily, squared his shoulders and told Hibari that his mother would still be in Namimori - there was still a chance that someone else would come looking for the Young Lion's family, and Nana wouldn't even know to run for help the way Tsuna had.

Smirking, Hibari had agreed that he would need to make sure to patrol past the Sawada home often. It was, after all, a known source of disturbances.

So, in other words, he would definitely be there, if any other mafia Family attacked.

"Anyway, that's how it is," Tsuna said, breaking both himself and Gokudera out of their thoughts.

Looking distinctly unhappy, but at least not openly protesting, Gokudera nodded. "I understand, Tsuna-sama," he said. "But why did he come to see you?"

"...About that…"

~.~.~

Gokudera was nice - or respectful - enough not to say, "I told you so."

He spared only a moment to sigh in that exasperated but mostly accepting and fond way - "Yes, that's how Kaitou-sama is," - before worry overtook his expression.

"What do you intend to do?" he asked Tsuna.

"I'm not sure yet," Tsuna replied, chewing his lip thoughtfully. "It depends, I guess. I don't think those yakuza recognized me, and maybe Hibari's beatdowns will convince them to keep their mouths shut. On the other hand, they might recognize Yamamoto or even Kyoko. I can't expect either of them to cover for me. And I can't always keep relying on Hibari to protect me."

There were just too many unknowns. Sky Flames were rare, but would anyone connect them to the Phantom Thief? Would they be able to connect them to Sawada Tsunayoshi? Would they be able to find him?

"It… might be better not to stay here too long," Tsuna admitted painfully. 'If I stay and someone comes looking, Hibari just might kill me for real,' he thought with a sort of gallows humor.

"Is that really alright, Tsuna-sama?" Gokudera asked, watching his leader closely. "You've… been happy here."

Tsuna snorted. "I'm going to be even more un-happy if someone gets hurt because of me," he pointed out bitterly.

Both came to a stop, having arrived in front of the Sawada house. Tsuna sighed, looking up at the simple, ordinary building. He'd miss it, he thought... but not as much as he expected.

"If we time it right, everyone will be searching in Japan, instead of in Italy," he mused. "It'll be the best chance to give the Sky Ring back to Vongola, or at least find out what Nono wants to do about, uh, the unexpected complications."

It wasn't much of a plan, but it was something. And somehow, Tsuna felt better, more centered than he had since coming to Namimori. At least he had a direction now and a course of action to pursue.

Gokudera nodded sharply. "Understood," he said. "I'll get in touch with my contacts back in Italy, to keep an eye on when the news reaches them, if it does."

"Thanks. That'll help," Tsuna said, stepping past the front gate. "I'm not sure how long it'll take. Maybe about a week? Well, we should still have enough time for that zoo trip."

"You don't have to indulge that brat, Tsuna-sama," Gokudera grumbled.

"I promised," Tsuna said, shrugging. Pushing open the front door, he called out, "We're home!" Turning back to Gokudera, he continued, "He's been pretty good about having to stay indoors all the time. It's got to be tough for such an active kid." Not like Tsuna had been, more interested in his manga than playing with other kids.

Gokudera hesitated, whatever he had planned to say dying away in silence. He and Tsuna exchanged a look, sharing the same thought - the house was too quiet. There had been no reply.

"Mom?" Tsuna called out, heading for the kitchen while Gokudera checked the living room.

There was no one else in the house.

"Kaitou-sama," Gokudera began, uncertainly.

Tsuna shook his head. "L-let's not jump to conclusions," he reasoned. "They probably just went out."

He really, really hoped that was it.

At least, Tsuna comforted himself, everything looked completely normal. Nana might have been taken off guard, but Lambo would have definitely made a fuss. And even if something had happened, they would be contacted. After all, Tsuna would be the target.

It was certainly the logical course of action, but that didn't make sitting down to just wait any easier. Nana didn't have a cell phone, and neither did Lambo, and running around town blindly looking for them was both unlikely to succeed and likely to draw unwanted attention, in case they didn't have it already.

When the front door finally opened, both Tsuna and Gokudera jumped to their feet, unthinkingly reaching for their weapons.

"We're home!" Nana sang out, completely unharmed and carefree.

Groaning, Tsuna buried his face in his hands. 'Why did I bother worrying?' he wondered. The sudden release of tension left him feeling weak-kneed.

"Oh, welcome back, you two!" Nana greeted them. Holding the door open, she waited for Lambo to totter in. Of the boy, only his legs were visible under shopping bags filled with what looked like enough provisions for an army division. Of course, it wasn't the weight that was causing him problems, but rather the lack of vision, forcing him to move slowly or risk tripping (again).

Gokudera growled under his breath. Stowing his dynamite again, he stalked after the pair as they made their way into the kitchen.

"You stupid cow," he hissed, "I told you to stay inside!"

"Lambo-san won't bow to you, Ahodera!" Lambo shot back, finally unloading his burden on the sparkling kitchen floor. His Japanese had improved impressively, but it still consisted of mostly stock phrases from television shows, leading to some… unique phrasing.

"Lambo volunteered to help me," Nana told Gokudera cheerfully, patting the boy on the head. "Thanks to him, I got the most out of today's sale. He did a really good job!"

Caught between his deep respect for Tsuna's mother and his almost equally deep annoyance with Lambo, Gokudera could only let out a kind of gurgling noise and glare murderously.

Tsuna sighed and told himself this was the best possible outcome and they should be grateful. He needed to repeat it a few times.

He should have been relieved.

...So why was it only now that a sudden uneasy feeling began to settle over him?

The hair on his arms was standing on end, as if a thunderstorm was approaching. There was a growing sense of pressure and tension in the air that felt both familiar and foreign to Tsuna.

He puzzled over it, ignoring the ringing noise that echoed through the house.

"Coming!" Nana called out, emerging from the kitchen and heading for the door.

That sound was the doorbell, Tsuna realized. And that feeling was the unmasked approach of someone very, very powerful.

"I'll get it!" Tsuna yelled, cutting in front of Nana suddenly. He smiled awkwardly and tried to block her way to the door. "Just leave it to me."

Nana smiled, looking pleased and knowing again, and headed back to unpack the rest of the groceries.

An even, unhurried knocking made Tsuna tense and turn slowly. He could feel his hand shaking as he reached for the handle.

'What an aura...' he thought, swallowing. People at that level always hid their power, subconsciously. They hid themselves so well, they almost disappeared from the senses. Some of Tsuna's hardest opponents he had all but blindly stumbled over, unable to perceive their presence.

But this person was openly projecting their power, almost as if they were yelling at the top of their lungs.

Why? To challenge Tsuna? To test him? To make him run?

There was another knock, still even and unhurried.

"Coming!" Tsuna answered reflexively and opened the door.

The next instance, staring into the red-clad chest of the man on the other side, Tsuna blanched and mentally wailed, 'Why did I do that?! Curse these ingrained manners!'

Swallowing, Tsuna slowly looked up - even now, he was still far too short - past the vivid red shirt, the yellow clasps and white collar, into fine features that were entirely too familiar.

'H-Hibari? No… this person is completely different,' Tsuna thought, stunned. This man was older, and his entire demeanor was unlike the demon perfect. Certainly, Hibari had never worn such an expression, even at his calmest.

It was gentle, despite the steel behind it and the sense of tension in the man's frame.

"Ah… C-can I help you?" Tsuna stammered out.

The stranger smiled, but it was not a happy expression, tightness gathering in the corners of his eyes.

"I hope so," he said. "That is why I must ask you to give me the Vongola Sky Ring."

Tsuna's eyes widened, his hand instinctively moving to press against the ring, hidden under his clothes. The man's sharp dark gaze followed the gesture, and Tsuna tried to play it off, reaching up instead to ruffle his hair.

"W-wha… I-I don't know what you're talking about," he lied, badly.

"It would be best for you to cooperate," the man told him, his calm unwavering. "Or I will take it by force. There's no point in denying it. The Triads know of Vongola's situation."

'He's from the Triads?' Tsuna thought, looking away quickly. Certainly, his clothing was Chinese in style, perhaps a martial artist.

"You should tell that boy not to swear at the shopkeepers in Italian," the man continued, "and especially not to promise vengeance as a member of the Bovino Family."

'Lambo, you stupid brat,' Tsuna groaned mentally.

There was no point in denying it now. Swallowing heavily, Tsuna looked up and squared his shoulders.

"Sorry, but I can't just hand it over," he said, meeting the man's gaze. "You'll have to take it from me."

The man nodded. Tsuna tensed, but he made no move to attack. "Then, shall we take this elsewhere?" he said.

'So we don't involve any civilians,' Tsuna realized. 'How conscientious. I spent so long with Lambo, Gokudera and the Varia chasing after me that I forgot how proper hitmen like to handle things.'

Nodding, Tsuna paused only to call back into the house, "I'm heading out!"

"Kaitou-sama!" Gokudera, who had been waiting just out of sight, tried to protest, but Tsuna cut him off.

"Look after Mom!"

It was an order, and he knew it would be followed, no matter how much Gokudera didn't like it. Tsuna didn't wait for a response, already stepping outside and closing the door behind him.

"So you're from the Triads?" he asked, forcing a pleasant smile on his face as they passed the front gate and stepped out into the street. "Which group? Anyone I might know?"

The way the man glanced at him, mildly indulgent of his transparent attempts to fish for information, reminded Tsuna of Reborn and all his "amateur" comments, even though this person held none of the same mocking edge.

"I am Fon, of the Arcobaleno," he replied, just as pleasantly.

'Arcobaleno? But that's Italian, not Chinese-' Tsuna puzzled, before it finally clicked and his thoughts came to a screeching halt.

He paled. "O-oh," he managed to stammer out. Tsuna didn't need Gokudera to explain what the Arcobaleno were. Everyone with the slightest tie to the mafia world knew. No, even people beyond it knew. The legend of the Arcobaleno - of the Strongest Seven - was whispered in many circles.

Their identities were not as well-known, but no one would dare claim to be one if they weren't.

That revelation, even more than the man's prior unrestrained aura, left Tsuna frozen in place.

...Which was probably his intention, to intimidate Tsuna into surrendering, without ever having to fight.

Tsuna had no desire to fight either, especially knowing he'd lose. But that didn't mean he planned to surrender. He'd made a promise to Nono, and the Vongola Sky Ring wasn't his to give away, especially not to the Triads.

Remembering his reasons helped strengthen Tsuna's resolve. Though he still felt like trembling in fear, Tsuna forced himself to face the Arcobaleno.

"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance," he said politely, bowing.

Without even thinking about it, Fon bowed in return.

'Now!'

In the moment when his guard was down just a fraction, Tsuna activated the Sky Ring. Orange Flames burst out between them, surging outward and blocking Fon from following Tsuna as he turned and ran.

He knew that level of attack wouldn't be enough to even put a scratch on his opponent, but it was enough to momentarily distract him.

'No,' Tsuna thought, sparing a glance back, where Fon's red-clad figure became visible once more as the Flames dissipated. He stood unmoved and complete unharmed, simply watching Tsuna flee. 'He's letting me run.'

Using a bit more Flames, Tsuna swept his arm out and easily boosted himself up onto the roof of a nearby house. He continued to run, jumping from roof to roof. Behind him, he could feel more than hear Fon begin to pursue.

'That's fine,' Tsuna decided, his eyes narrowing. 'Just follow me. It's still a bit early for our meeting, but I know his patrol routes by heart. And the place he's passing through now will do just fine.'

Turning sharply, he circled away from the busier central district and toward the woods at the edge of town. High schoolers liked to loiter there, whether for illegal drinking, bullying or fooling around, or any other reason to get so privacy. All those things were strictly forbidden by the Disciplinary Committee, which made regular sweeps of the area.

As they cleared the last house and began to move through the trees, Tsuna knew his grace period was over.

Fon suddenly closed the distance between them. Twisting and throwing himself to the side, Tsuna barely managed to avoid his palm strike, only to realize too late that it had been a feint. A leg sweep knocked him off his feet and off the tree branch, sending Tsuna falling into the brush below.

However, before Fon could follow, something flew out from the nearby canopy, clipping his bangs as he drew back sharply and hitting the tree trunk with enough force to crack it almost in half. Glancing at the tonfa, buried in the tree trunk almost to the hilt, Fon slowly turned to watch as Hibari appeared out of the foliage, the promise of murder in his expression.

Tsuna, who hadn't quite managed to catch himself before hitting a bush, shivered involuntarily as he looked up at Hibari. His expression cold and furious, in a way Tsuna had never seen before.

'That resemblance isn't a coincidence,' he realized. 'They definitely know each other.'

"Hello, Kyoya," Fon greeted calmly.

'Kyoya? Who's Kyoya? ...Wait, that's Hibari's first name,' Tsuna thought dumbly, sitting up with a wince and brushing leaves out of his hair.

"What are you doing?" Hibari demanded, pulling out and snapping open a spare tonfa. However, he made no immediate move to attack, to Tsuna's surprise. When had Hibari ever given anyone the benefit of the doubt or a chance to explain? He'd even whacked Tsuna a few times when they first met, though he quickly realized that Tsuna was too herbivore to bother with.

Tsuna had planned to use Hibari as a distraction and run - Hibari was good enough to keep himself alive, he thought, but probably not good enough to take down someone of that caliber - but the strangeness of the situation kept him tied to the spot.

"Don't involve yourself in this, Kyoya," Fon cautioned. "Right now, I can't afford to be kind."

Something about that statement seemed completely wrong to Tsuna. His brow furrowed as he stared at Fon, trying to understand what that nagging feeling meant.

Judging by the way his eyes narrowed, it didn't seem right to Hibari either.

"Don't disturb the peace in Namimori," he shot back.

Both of them tensed subtly, shifting their stances as they readied to do battle - even though neither looked like they wanted to fight.

"W-wait!" Tsuna called out, stumbling to his feet, his eyes fixed on the two figures. Neither responded, and he could already tell they wouldn't listen.

He could see the instance when they moved to attack, though he couldn't grasp the exchange of blows that followed. Both the fighters were simply too far above his level.

Tsuna jumped a little as they separated again suddenly. Hibari came off clearly worse, slamming into a nearby tree with enough force to make Tsuna wince and favoring his right side.

"You can't defeat me, Kyoya," Fon told him, landing nimbly, without a single scratch. "This has nothing to do with you. Go back to your town."

"I'll bite you to death," Hibari stubbornly fell back on his usual response. At that point, he was probably refusing out of sheer bullheadedness.

But unlike the only other time Tsuna had seen Hibari outmatched, he didn't look excited. If anything, it was clear he felt the same sense of confused wrongness as Tsuna.

"Stop it!" Tsuna yelled without thinking. "Stop this right now!"

"I'm sorry, but I can't do that. I told you, I can't afford to be kind right now," Fon repeated.

"This is you being unkind?!" Tsuna burst out. "You're worrying about hurting civilians and trying to make me back out without using force, and you call that unkind? How nice are you normally?!"

That was all true. The answer was, of course, so nice that even Hibari acknowledged it - even if he clearly didn't approve.

His outburst had startled Fon into silence, and Tsuna took the opportunity to gather his wits.

"When I asked which Triad group you're with," he began, "you said you're an Arcobaleno." 'Aren't Arcobaleno supposed to stay neutral?' Tsuna almost asked, but he wasn't sure if that was really the case. Instead, he said, "But that's not an answer. What are you really doing here? You're saying you can't be kind now, but why is this situation so different? What's going on with you?"

The plaintive tone of the last question, coupled with Hibari's flat stare, made Fon hesitate a moment longer, glancing between them. He sighed, something in his stance relaxing slightly.

But before Tsuna could feel a sense of relief, Fon said, "That is none of your concern. Hand over the Vongola Sky Ring."

Despite his words, he didn't ready to fight again. Instead, he raised one arm and pulled down the wide sleeve of his robe, revealing what looked like a bracelet. Something about its design was familiar. Tsuna was sure he had seen something similar before.

'That's… a recording device? No, a transmitter,' Tsuna realized.

It had been on a job, against a mafia Family that had particularly annoyed Tsuna with their unsightly actions. Tsuna had been in the process of sneaking through their manor when he found himself almost running into someone doing their own bit of sneaking - a spy from a rival Family, who had been posing as a maid. He had thoughtlessly swiped her bracelet, only to realize that it had a transmitter and a tracker inside it, which almost got him caught.

He mimed a question, pointing at his own wrist, then tapping next to his ear. Fon nodded, his expression tightening. Looking between them, Hibari seemed to quickly catch on as well.

Someone was listening in.

"I will bite to death anyone who disturbs the peace in Namimori," Hibari declared, hefting his tonfas up again. If anything, he looked even more furious than before. However, his attack was slow even by Tsuna's standards, barely more than a warning swipe, and Fon avoided easily, flipping away and landing near Tsuna on the ground.

Before either of them could continue the fight - no matter how perfunctory - Tsuna quickly reached out and grasped Fon's wrist, over the transmitter bracelet. It grew almost uncomfortably warm as he quickly pressed his Sky Flames into it.

"It should be okay to talk now," Tsuna said, meeting Fon's calm, assessing gaze. Unlike most people would have, Fon didn't try to pull away, which was probably for the best. With such a well-made, insulated piece of surveillance equipment, Tsuna preferred to keep contact, to make sure he was blocking it completely.

Fon smiled faintly. "I see. A small concentration of your Sky Flames within the sensor array causes too much interference," he said.

'He saw through it just like that,' Tsuna thought, feeling both annoyed and impressed. 'Like Reborn.'

"But that will also become suspicious shortly," Fon noted, his expression becoming serious once more.

"I do it all the time. Just say it passed after you knocked me out," Tsuna said. "Or would it be better to say you killed me?"

"No one would believe that," Hibari grumbled, narrowing his eyes at Fon as he joined them on the ground, "coming from this… vegetation."

'He doesn't even rate an herbivore,' Tsuna thought, sweatdropping.

Fon was watching them both oddly, as if he wasn't quite sure if they were serious. It was a face of disbelief when confronted with something completely outside the realm of common sense. Tsuna had worn that expression a lot as well, especially when he first started out dealing with the mafia. Like, "Did that man really just shoot fire out of his ring?" or "Did that woman's rice cake really just melt a solid steel door?"

To have it directed at him was somehow worrying.

"...Would you like to hear my explanation first?" Fon suggested mildly.

"Yeah, of course. How are we going to deal with whatever the problem is otherwise?" Tsuna said, nodding. "I mean, how are we going to handle this after you take the Sky Ring to the drop off point? That's how it's supposed to work, right? Since you're… getting blackmailed or something."

Apparently giving up, Fon smiled helplessly. Tsuna had done that a lot too, especially toward Gokudera. It just made him even more worried. He wasn't really turning into one of those crazy mafiosi too, right?

"Blackmail is one way of putting it," Fon agreed, the momentary smile sliding away. "Or rather, it's a hostage situation. They are desperate to get their hands on the Vongola Boss's ring, so they tried to recruit me by threatening my apprentice's life."

His face was full of self-recrimination, but Tsuna felt like the one at fault was the Phantom Thief. 'I can't believe they'd go so far as to try to force an Arcobaleno to cooperate. That's practically suicide,' he thought.

"Ipin had decided to live as a civilian, so I tried to give her space," Fon continued, "but it was foolish of me to let her out of my sight. I don't even know where she's being held, and if I try to search for her, she'll be killed before I can reach her."

"If you're growing to crowd together, at least keep an eye on your herd," Hibari said, crossing his arms. Fon accepted the reprimand silently.

"I see. So that's how it is," Tsuna said. He nodded to himself. "Okay, we can deal with that. When you take the Sky Ring to them, you can refuse to hand it over until they let you see her. We'll follow you in the meantime, and we can free her, since they won't be looking out for us."

"We?" Hibari repeated, glaring.

'Are you really going to do this now?' Tsuna wondered, staring back. "Fine then," he said. "You can get knocked out to make it more believable."

Going by the way Hibari's glare darkened, he liked that plan even less.

"Is this really okay? Just like that?" Fon wondered as Tsuna pulled the chain with the Sky Ring out from under his sweatshirt.

"If they completely refuse, you can settle for talking to her," Tsuna said, thinking for a moment. "As long as they use a cellphone, I can steal it, and we can track the place the call was made to."

Fon smiled patiently. "Yes, I had planned on that as well," he said. It sounded like a much nicer version of Reborn's constant "amateur" taunts, and Tsuna found himself flushing a little. This person already knew what to do, without Tsuna telling him. "But that's not what I meant," Fon continued. "Are you really just going to hand over the Vongola ring so easily?"

"I'd prefer you didn't actually hand it over to the Triads," Tsuna said. "But I stole it once. I can do it again. No right is worth a life. ...And it's not like I can just leave it like this. I really lucked out that they sent you, instead of someone else. Otherwise, there's no telling how many people would have gotten hurt."

A desperate squad of Triad members would have attacked Nana and Lambo right in the middle of Namimori's shopping district. Just the thought of it made Tsuna shudder.

Holding out the Sky Ring, Tsuna said, "I know you probably don't want to be thanked in this situation, but I'm really grateful to you."

"I think you might have that a little backwards," Fon commented, accepting the ring.

"This is the least I can do to repay you," Tsuna continued. He smiled, a familiar sense of confidence and balance filling him, now that his path had been decided. He wasn't wearing a mask, but he didn't need one. This was what he wanted to do, as Sawada Tsunayoshi. "So I'm going to take back your most precious thing."

If only he had a spare card. It just didn't feel the same to take on a job without it. He'd even given Nono one, the proof of their contract.

Taking his hand off the transmitter bracelet, Tsuna stepped back and began to allow his Flames to dissipate. Three, he gestured with his fingers, two, one, and the reception was returned. It was time to start acting again.

Hibari's attack was almost too fast for Tsuna to follow, no longer holding back - or if he was, Tsuna couldn't tell. He didn't need to; Fon avoided easily.

Flipping up into the trees, Fon told him, "There's no need for us to fight. I have what I came for."

"Theft is forbidden in Namimori," Hibari said, as always completely ignoring everything to pursue his own logic. "As punishment, you'll be bitten to death."

Without waiting for a response, he attacked again. His strike hit only the unfortunate tree trunk behind where Fon had been standing, smashing it into splinters. Undeterred, Hibari took off in pursuit, both of them disappearing into the forest.

'W-wait for me!' Tsuna thought, hurrying after them. 'I still need to follow you to the drop off point!'

~.~.~

It didn't take long for Fon to lose Hibari, once they left the forest at the edge of town. Or rather, Tsuna supposed, Hibari had chosen to fall back, while Tsuna continued to follow at a safe distance.

Still, Tsuna wasn't worried. Given the sheer scale of the Triad presence that greeted Fon as he approached the drop off point, Hibari probably already knew where to go. There was no way his Disciplinary Committee underlings could have missed such a sudden amassing of crowding foreign law-breaking herbivores.

Fon had headed straight for Namimori's small industrial harbor. Passing the mostly empty warehouses and processing facilities, he strode out purposefully into the open area in front of a large cargo ship.

Both the ship's deck and the cargo containers stacked at Fon's back like a fortress wall were teeming with armed Triad members.

'With this, it's almost like they're taking him seriously enough,' Tsuna thought, glancing around at the many snipers that had their sights trained on the Arcobaleno. 'Of course, if they were really taking him seriously enough, they would've never messed with him in the first place...'

Settling down in his own hiding place in the shadow of a loading crane, Tsuna watched as Fon came to a halt in the middle of the open area. He spared only a cursory glance around him as he waited, though he was likely far more aware of the danger around him than even Tsuna - not that the red laser sights glowing across his chest and back weren't a clear and blatant indication.

A Chinese man appeared at the top of the ship's ramp, catching Fon's attention immediately. Going by the glare that bored into him, this man could only be the Triad leader.

He was younger than Tsuna had expected, but it was probably his youth that allowed him to do something so shortsighted and arrogant. He at least had the wisdom not to approach Fon himself. Instead, he smirked down from the top of the ramp and gestured for one of his subordinates to descend.

"I trust you have it," the Triad leader commented with faux casualness.

"Of course," Fon replied shortly, his glare unwavering. He didn't look away as he reached into one of his wide sleeves and pulled out the Vongola Ring. A single laser sight deviated to dance across its surface, the sniper using his scope to check closer whether the ring was real.

"And there haven't been any… unexpected complications?" the Triad leader continued, blatantly fishing for information now, probably regarding the short outage on their surveillance equipment.

Tsuna hadn't thought it was possible, but Fon's dark glare sharpened further. "It's been handled," Fon replied shortly. "I've done my part. Now, return my apprentice."

Waving his hand dismissively, the Triad leader smiled. "Of course, after I have the ring," he said. "I'll return her to you as promised."

Fon didn't reply as he watched the Triad subordinate approach him. But as the underling stopped in front of him and held out his hand, Fon shook his head. "No," he said. "Now. I will not give you the ring until I see that she's safe."

The Triad leader's nasty smile widened. "As you wish," he said, almost indulgently.

It was too easy an agreement, and Tsuna had a sudden inkling as to what the man had planned. Without wasting a moment, he began to move.

With a gesture from the boss, the crane over the ship's open cargo hold began to move. It had been holding up a single shipping container, which now swung around to point one opening toward the shore. The metal doors swung open, and what must have been another pair of Triad underlings stood at the edge, apparently unbothered by the fall that awaited them, should they misstep.

Held under the arm of one was the tiny figure of a young child.

The thug hoisted her - it could be no one except Fon's apprentice - up and held a gun to the child's lolling head. She must have given them hell, forcing the Triad to tie her up hand and foot.

"Unfortunately, she proved to be far less cooperative than you," the Triad leader said, falsely regretful. "We had to knock her out. It's too bad… that you won't be able to share any last words."

Those words were like the starting gun, sending everyone into motion.

With every eye on Fon, Tsuna gave up stealth and dashed forward. Tossing a thin line onto the crane, he leaped and swung across the gap, over the cargo ship. The angle was slightly off, and he was forced to let go, flying free for the last section - aiming just right for the shipping container's opening.

The two Triad thugs had barely a second to realize that something was coming before Tsuna slammed into the one holding Ipin, feet first. All three of them were sent flying deeper into the container in a tangle of limbs. Tsuna rolled out on top, Ipin tossed over one shoulder. Instinctively, he darted to the side, pressing his back to the container wall as a shot rang out, coming from the second thug.

More pressingly, he realized that the entire container was lined with explosives - most likely on a remote detonator.

On the wharf, the snipers had opened fire immediately. With the same speed he had displayed against Hibari, Fon seemed to all but disappear, easily avoiding their shots. Sidestepping the man who had come to take the Vongola Ring, he rushed toward the ramp, intent on confronting the Triad leader.

However, the Triad had anticipated that possibility. As Fon crossed an invisible threshold, the concrete of the loading dock exploded, a wave of mines hidden underneath going off. Smoke, fire and shrapnel created a wall between him and his target, forcing Fon to retreat.

The delay was enough for the snipers to recover and reacquire their target. Even Fon was hard-pressed to evade the storm of shots that followed, temporarily keeping him occupied.

The Triad leader sneered down at the skirmish below, apparently unconcerned about the outcome. He had seen Tsuna's arrival and instead glanced up at the shipping crate swaying ominously over the ship's cargo hold. An echoing thud, and the body of one of the thugs appeared at the opening, hanging limply halfway out in the empty air.

Reaching into his pocket, the Trial leader curled his hand around the remote detonator. He didn't hesitate to press the switch to the explosives in the container.

His eyes widened as there was no reaction.

Inside the container, Tsuna kicked open the rear opening and, holding Ipin's body close, took a running leap off the edge. His momentum carried him over the ship and out onto the open water. Hitting the bay from that height was still too dangerous, but Tsuna could slow his descent using Sky Flames.

'Why do my rescues always end like this?' he thought gloomily, just before he and Ipin disappeared under the waves. At least this time he wasn't wearing a heavy cloak.

"Tch," the Triad leader clicked his tongue, watching their escape. Pulling out a radio handset, he ordered, "Get a boat on the water. Try to take the thief alive, but get rid of the girl."

As he turned back to the battle on the dock, the radio in his hand crackled. Through the static, a startled call came through before being abruptly cut off. Then, another. Unnoticed at first, the laser sights of the snipers began to vanish one by one.

Finally, one of the Triad members managed to report, "We're under attack! Which group are they with?" There was no answer, and a moment later, he was cut off as well.

From the snipers' hiding places, one by one, figures began to emerge, each with the same pompadour hair style. Hibari and his Disciplinary Committee minions had arrived to restore the peace, by force.

With the snipers' cover fire gone, Fon was left free to resume his own attack. He didn't try to advance again, expecting more traps on the path to the Triad leader. Instead, he shifted into a different stance, crimson Flames flickering around his fists.

As he snapped out a punch, a crimson dragon made of fire burst out, flying straight for the cargo ship. The Triad leader lunged out of the way, but the dragon only curled around itself, the touch of its scale disintegrating entire sections of the deck, and turned toward him again.

The Triad leader barely had time to scream before the crimson Flames engulfed him and his voice abruptly cut off.

~.~.~

By the time Tsuna made it back to shore with Ipin, the battle was long over and, with the efficiency born of long practice, the Disciplinary Committee was already halfway through clean up.

The shock of the cold water had been enough to wake up Ipin, but she had quickly understood the situation and stayed with Tsuna as they swam around the ship and onto the wharf. In fact, she swam quite a bit better than Tsuna, who had fortunately undone her bonds before jumping - mostly on a thief's reflexive dislike of all knots and locks.

"Ipin! Ipin!" Fon called, running up to them as Ipin dragged Tsuna out of the water. Like Lambo, she was much stronger than her tiny build implied.

"Sifu!" Ipin called back, her face lighting up.

She jumped at him, and Fon caught her easily, engulfing the little girl in a tight hug.

'What a nice sight,' Tsuna thought. He watched, wringing out his jacket, as the master and student pair checked each other over for injuries and muttered reassurances to each other in Chinese.

Sneezing, he accidentally drew their attention. "Thank you," Fon said, turning to Tsuna with an expression that was almost embarrassing in its earnestness.

"I didn't really do anything," Tsuna said, looking away awkwardly. "You had it handled, and Hibari too."

"I'm grateful to him as well," Fon agreed.

Hibari, who had been watching silently nearby, crossed his arms and glared. "I will bite to death anyone who disturbs the peace in Namimori," he said.

'He hasn't changed at all,' Tsuna thought, smiling a little. 'Still can't accept thanks at all.'

In the next moment, he was forced to duck as Hibari swung a tonfa at his head. "Hiieee! What are you doing, Hibari-sempai!" Tsuna protested.

"You're the cause of a disturbance… again," Hibari said, spinning his weapons and preparing to attack again. "And I still want to see those Flames of yours."

'You're just selfishly doing whatever you want again!' Tsuna thought, only to be forced to dodge again as Hibari lunged for him. 'I take back every nice thing I thought about you!'

"Don't forget this!" Fon called out, tossing Tsuna the Vongola Ring. "And don't worry about the Triads. I think I will… educate them a little, about the foolishness of their actions."

"Thanks!" Tsuna called back, catching the spinning ring. The moment of distraction earned him a painful blow to the side, making Tsuna squawk in indignation and glare at Hibari.

"Let's see if you've grown a little while you were away, small animal," Hibari said.

His smirk made Tsuna shiver. He had a sudden sinking feeling that he wouldn't be getting off with just a few bruises this time.

~.~.~

**Notes**

Q: What was that wall of text about Flames?  
A: I love pseudo-technobabble. Actually, I thought about it a lot! Obviously, Dying Will Mode is a special situation, but that aside, we rarely see people use Flames without a Ring. Mukuro had some in his eye, I guess. And Xanxus could use them even as a kid. But none of the Varia use Flames in an obvious way. Even Mammon's illusions are never actually stated to be Flames (though they probably are; then again, Mammon has a Pacifier). I would assume that Flames are hard to generate and channel without a proper medium (Rings).

Q: So, Hibari?  
A: As Tsuna stated, he was attacked in middle school. Hibari was the one who stepped in and saved Tsuna's life. More assassins followed, becoming something of a regular thing. In between fighting off the mafia together (?), Tsuna was forced to spend a lot of time with Hibari for his own safety.

I briefly considered adding Mukuro as part of the Hibari-Tsuna backstory, but I decided against it. Mukuro thinks big, delusionally so. Vongola Decimo is big enough, but unknown son of CEDEF's chief probably isn't, especially since the CEDEF is only a big deal during certain times.

You know, I just realized that my characterization of Tsuna is totally weird. When I read fanfiction, he's always sweet, gentle and defenseless - until he has a bipolar flip and moves to protect his friends, I guess. In stories that aren't like that, where Tsuna's oddly tough or skilled or violent or even too snarky, I almost always feel he's OOC.

So what does it say when my characterization doesn't match what I'm used to seeing and reading? There's something completely not right here.

Mind you, it's still better than my characterization of Fon. I don't even know what's going on there.

As a heads-up, next chapter may be delayed. It's the start of basically a straight road to the finish.

~.~.~

_Next time: Vongola Decimo_

~.~.~


End file.
